Publisher's Synopsis
On her fifth birthday, Joyce made her first vow. Raised in a devout Catholic home, she decided to put the needs of others before her own. At age thirteen, her mother died. She sought a life with the nurturing nuns who taught her. Joyce describes the process of almost ten years of "sister formation," leading to professing the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience for life. Why, then did she leave the convent? She had come from a generation screaming for release from meaningless social rituals, and when convent rules began changing because of Pope John XXIII's Ecumenical Council, Joyce changed too. This unusual story explores a world very few people know. Joyce Vandever grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas. She obtained a B.S. in elementary education from Sacred Heart College (Now Kansas Newman University) in Wichita, Kansas, and a M.A in psychology from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco (Now owned by the University of San Francisco.) After leaving the convent, she taught in the Denver Public Schools for twenty-five years. Now retired, she hikes, travels, and writes.
