Joann C. Odenwelder was a small child when her family moved to Texas. Though not native, she feels Texan through and through. She grew up in Beeville, just 60 miles north of Corpus Christi. In 1969 she felt she needed to see something of the world so she joined the U.S. Foreign Service. She spent nearly two years at the embassy in Teheran, Iran. During that time, in addition to visiting other areas of that country, she also toured Jordan, Lebanon, and Cypress, and spent time in Athens, Madrid, Rome, and London.
Her longing for Texas and strong family ties brought her to Austin in 1971. She went to work for Texas Parks and Wildlife and attended the University of Texas where she received her degree in business management.
Wanderlust struck again in the early 1980s. She joined her future husband Bud to become first mate and galley hand on the 1941 yawl Stormalong. She spent three years living aboard Stormy, learning everything imaginable: cooking and baking on a two-burner stove, mending sails and rigging, tying knots, standing watches, as well as bathing using not much more than a cup of fresh water! They and their two dogs Dusty and Girlie sailed along the Gulf coast, making their way around Florida to the Northern Abacos in the Bahamas.
Joann had long known that once Texas has a hold on someone, it’s hard to stay away. Consequently, they returned to Austin in 1986, married in 1988, and since 1994 have called OHHO Plateau near Dripping Springs home.
At her husband’s urging, Joann Took up flying, earning her fixed wing license in 2001 and two years later her rotorcraft rating. She was a “good right arm” in the construction of their experimental airplane “The Gekko” and later their kit-built helicopter "Hopper Chopper.” She especially gets a kick out of flying “Hooper Chopper” around the Texas Hill Country, just for the pure fun of it.
When she isn’t writing or working with clients in her real estate business, she indulges in one of her other pastimes: running, cycling, gardening, or simply observing the natural world right outside her window.
