There’s more than meets Senior Care Plus member and decades-long Nevadan, she is also a devoted mother, grandmother, computer whiz, community actor and a voiceover artist.
Raised in northern California, JoAnne grew up visiting Reno since she was a child. After graduating high school in Susanville, she went to college in Sacramento, yet Reno always seemed to call her name, drawing her back home.
“I’ve been back and forth from Reno and northern California all my life, but I always felt like Reno was home,” she said.
After attending Reno Business College, she started her career as a bookkeeper. Over the 10 years she worked in bookkeeping, then segued her career into legal assistant. For five years, she served as a confidential assistant to the City of Reno Chief of Police. From there, she worked as a travel agent before retiring.
A point of pride for JoAnne is her love of computers. Throughout her career journey in Reno, she learned the ins-and-outs of Microsoft, Mac and other operating systems. She especially loves leveraging those tools to make greeting cards, letters and more. She is a strong advocate for the use of technology today.
“I am very techy,” said JoAnne. “One of the things I’ve learned is that computers are just ‘dumb machines;’ they were designed by humans just like you and me. You learn to manipulate the computer to get what you want it to do.”
After marriage and a few happy years staying home, JoAnne welcomed her daughter into the world. Years later, her daughter had a son, JoAnne’s grandchild.
“I’m lucky to have my one and only daughter,” she mentioned. “She is brilliant in her career. And my grandson is doing very well at the University of Nevada, Reno. They are my treasures.”
About 25 years ago, JoAnne became interested in the voiceover world. She began training as a voiceover actress and signed with an agency in San Francisco, doing voiceover work all over northern California under the brand name, The Rich & Appealing Voice.
JoAnne’s vocal talents also proved to be an asset on stage. One day, while living in Grass Valley, Calif., JoAnne’s friend told her that she was going to audition for a play and asked her to join.
“I thought, ‘why not?’” JoAnne recalled. “And guess what? I got the part!”
And the rest was history. JoAnne started participating in a lot of stage plays throughout Grass Valley and Nevada City. When she moved to Reno, she joined the Biggest Little City’s premier readers’ theater group, Ageless Repertory Theater (ART). The non-profit performs one play each month at Reno Little Theater on Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m. while reading from a script, attracting many senior citizens and retirees to enjoy afternoon stage entertainment. The plays are free, and donations are welcome.
“ART has performed popular published plays, from Broadway and beyond,” said JoAnne. “I design the programs for our performances and really enjoy doing that.”
In the performance world, voice acting continues to be JoAnne’s biggest passion. She works with True Talent from time to time and is actively looking for more voiceover work in the Reno-Tahoe area
Health is something that is always top of mind for JoAnne. When she moved to Reno from northern California, she had a California-based health insurance plan. But she desired a local plan here in northern Nevada that opened her up to even more care possibilities closer to home.
In 2009, JoAnne’s friend suggested that she look into Senior Care Plus and enroll in one of their Medicare Advantage plans – and she’s been a member ever since
“I’ve been very happy with my plan,” said JoAnne. “I am a strong believer in Senior Care Plus.”
JoAnne has a lot to love about her Senior Care Plus plan. At the top of the list, she says, is her providers at Renown Health and easy access to her health information, appointments, medications and more through MyChart.
This year and beyond, JoAnne’s focus continues to be her health. She is thankful to be healthy and is wishing for an even healthier 2026.
A significant aspect of her health journey is her love of nutritious food and cooking, and she has a reputation as a good cook. At one point, JoAnne conducted small cooking classes and was encouraged to write a cookbook. And the result is her popular self-published book, The Eclectic Cook.
JoAnne is also looking forward to doing more voiceover work and on-camera gigs. She is experienced in performing in corporate videos, movie trailers, narration and more. For her, the opportunities are endless.
