Joan Foor, MN, RN, brings a lifetime of service, teaching and family experience to her writing.
During the Vietnam War, Joan served as a registered nurse in the U.S. Army, caring for wounded service members. She continued serving in the Army Reserve Nurse Corps and retired as a lieutenant colonel after 29 years of military service.
At UCLA, she earned a master’s degree in nursing and trained as a nurse practitioner. Her 38-year career at Kaiser Permanente included pediatrics, general medicine, diabetes education, nurse education and clinical administration. After retirement, she taught nursing in Bakersfield and at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California.
Already experienced in writing technical nursing procedure manuals, Joan became interested in fiction while caring for her mother and brother through serious illness. She took graduate classes in fiction and nonfiction at UCLA and developed her work as a member of a writing critique group.
Her memoir and poetry collection, Homeward Journey, was published in 2003. She went on to co-author two children’s books, including It’s Tough Growing Up with Marilyn Dalrymple, published in 2009 and again in 2011. Her novel A Marked Woman is based on the true story of Naomi Bryar’s life through the Great Depression, World War II and beyond. Author Cynda Thomas described it as an easy read and a page-turner.
Joan’s community connections include the Palm Springs Writers Guild, the Military Officers Association, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Palm Springs Women’s Golf Club. Outside her professional and literary work, her interests include golf, gardening, travel and bicycling.
She has divided her time between homes in the Palmdale Hills and Cathedral City, California, sharing them with two rescue cats and a terrier dog.