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When Joan first arrived at QVC way back in 1991, everyone was abuzz wondering what she would be like in person. I was the first host to work with Joan and I was so incredibly nervous. However, I figured we would make a good combo since she was funny and I am not.
Our first show went well and as Joan left the set she turned to me and said, "Good-bye, my darling!" That little sign of affection made me fall in love with Joan and I have loved her for almost a quarter of a century!
I was pregnant with our second son, Cory, when I met Joan. So, while I was on maternity leave, Joan began working with Kathy Levine and it was a match made in heaven! Those two were cut from similar cloth and made us all laugh until our sides hurt!
Over the next several years, many of us hosted with Joan and here's what I noticed:
When Cory, Ryan and Elizabeth were born, Joan sent a nice gift. When Elizabeth was 4 years old and was very sick with something her doctors were having difficulty diagnosing, Joan offered to help. She said she knew people at both John's Hopkins and Mt. Sinai and said she could get Elizabeth in right away to either place with a simple phone call. We never did take her up on her generous offer, as our doctors figured it all out soon after Joan's offer. But that's just who Joan was - a generous, caring person who was always willing to help.
I will never forget one time when Joan and I were together and I was pregnant with our third son, Ryan. I told Joan that we found out the baby was a boy and we had been hoping for a girl, because we already had two boys. Joan looked at me and said,
"Mary Beth someday you'll walk into a restaurant with 4 handsome men following you .... your husband and three young men in suits and ties and you will be the Queen Bee. You will be one proud Queen Bee!"
I never forgot that and 15 years later, on the day of Eric's college graduation (which also happened to be on Mother's Day), we walked into a nice restaurant in Washington, D.C. and I happened to turn around and guess what I saw? There was my husband, Mark with our sons Eric, Cory and Ryan. They were all dressed up and just looked so incredibly handsome.
Right out loud I said, "Joan, you were right; I am one proud Queen Bee!" Of course the icing on the cake was that our 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was following right behind Ryan. I AM one very blessed Queen Bee, that's for sure!
Just yesterday I wore one of Joan's gorgeous bee pins. Do you know the story of why Joan loved the bee so much and created gorgeous bee pieces? Well, according to physics, the way the bee's body is made up, he shouldn't be able to fly. He is not aerodynamically proportioned, but fly the bee does. The meaning of overcoming obtsacles and never giving up was so dear to Joan, especially after she lost her dear, Edgar. I cannot even imagine all she went through, but I do know how strong she was. She stayed dedicated to her craft, her daughter, Melissa, and her friends and family and plowed through it cracking jokes and accepting invitations when invited. She could have wallowed and isolated, but not our Joan!!
Thank you, Joan, for your friendship, kindness, generosity, wisdom and laughter. I still miss you terribly and I'm sure everybody else who loved you still does too!!
Tell those who are important to you how much you love them and how much they mean. Life is precious; life is short! Until we meet again, Joan!
Counting our blessings,
Mary Beth Roe
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