Joanne Field was born in St. Louis, Missouri to John L. Field and Eunice Stearns Field. Her parents were both native North Carolinians and they returned to NC when she was a baby. She grew up in Marion, NC. She attended Queens College in Charlotte, NC, and was graduated from Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC with a double major in English and Music. She took graduate courses at UNC-Chapel Hill. On 23 June 1962, she married Lt. Kenneth O. Pankow, of the US Navy. They lived in Asheville, NC. Joan