Calendar of Events

BY RICHARD CAMP

JOAN KEMPER

JOAN KEMPER ONE YEAR OLD

JOAN KEMPER WITH HER DAD

HER WAY

Joan Kemper has always done it her way. It is without exaggeration to suggest that there is most likely not a single person in Ojai who has not been touched by her spirit, dedication, perseverance, passion, and untethered energy.

Or, if they haven’t, they will.

Joan arrived in Ojai in 1986 and immediately began to make her mark on various non-profits and community projects that have helped make Ojai the flourishing artistic and philanthropic community that it is. Her strong-willed determination keeps her focused on the goal at hand, and she keeps that hand steady, ready to slap away any adversity. But, with kindness. If you ask her, though, she will invariably attribute her successes to others. With an infectious passion for those community projects, no matter how difficult they may be, she has inspired volunteers who happily contribute to her artistic and pragmatic vision. She is blessed with the prime attribute enjoyed by any good producer … she is a problem solver … a quality that could very well be traced back to the day she met Frank Sinatra.

When she was sixteen, she was invited by a friend (George) to a cotillion at VPI, the Virginia Polytech Institute, where the entertainment was provided by the Tommy Dorsey Band, with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers. This was before World War II, so Sinatra was not yet the bobby sox