BIOGRAPHY:

Joyce Robinson has dedicated her life to giving back to the community she loves so much, both during her career and in retirement.

Joyce was a teacher on and off in the Ojai Unified School District for about 40 years. She gegan teaching sixth grade at Meiners Oaks Elementary in 1964. She taught fourth, fifth,and sixth grades there for nine years. She returned to school to get her Master's degree and counseling credentials. She returned to Meiners Oaks to teach fifth grade until 1980.

Then she began her 24 1/2 year stint as a social sciences and drama teacher at Chaparral High School, retiring in 2004. "I really enjoyed working with teenagers, Robinson said. "It was so rewarding, especially when they graduated."

She has been involved in the Ojai Education Foundation, Ojai Music Festival Women's Committee, and the Ojai Valley Museum. She volunteers every February and March for the Ojai Music Van, exposing young students to musical instruments. She serves on the Ojai Music Board and is a volunteer coordinator for the annual Ojai Holiday Home Tour in November. She serves on the Ojai Museum Board, volunteering as a docent and working on the oral history program.

David Mason, Ojai resident and historian, recent winner of the Sanford Drucker Award posthumously, was a good friend and she recorded Mr. Mason's story. "He said as long as I was one of the interviewers, he would do it." Some of the interview was shown at David's memorial service at Libbey Bowl.

Joyce summarized, "I like small towns. I like the fact that people know you and they put themselves out for people who need help, and they're very...just compassionate, and it's not like a big city, where you're just a number."