Miss-Delectable
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Senior Class ? Week 34. Deaf Beauty - NashuaTelegraph.com
Joan McMahon was born deaf. HER Mother’s burst appendix during pregnancy caused her to lose the ability to hear for life. However, she never let that stop her from communicating, and she has never called it a handicap.
During her youth, McMahon attended the Catholic-run Boston School for the Deaf. There, she was taught by sisters to read lips. Sign language was discouraged and was even punished, according to her daughter Johanna Rivard. “They would pull hair, slap you with rulers and draw scalding hot baths,” Rivard said. “They were ferocious.”
Joan would meet her match in college, marry, raise nine children and would divorce five years ago. According to McMahon, communicating with her ex-husband became inconsistent. He would go on to meet another woman and, according to McMahon, left because she was deaf. “It broke my heart,” McMahon said. “But it’s OK, I moved on.”
Moved on she did. And like a phoenix from the ashes, McMahon would renew herself. At 65, she competed in the Ms. New Hampshire Senior America Pageant on Nov. 22. “I wanted to show my family that I could do it,” McMahon said. “Because I wanted to, I wanted to try.”
Since the divorce, she’s become more independent. McMahon has learned to drive a car and for the past few weeks has taken up sign language. For her talent portion of the pageant, she signed the song, “God Bless America.” Cheering her on, and taking up about a third of the audience at the Derryfield Performing Arts Theatre in Manchester, were her children, grandchildren and spouses, numbering more than 25. “They said ‘go for it, you can do it,’ ” McMahon said. She’s even taken up baking at a local Hannaford on top of her job as a bank clerk.
No, McMahon didn’t win that afternoon, she didn’t even place. However, it’s safe to say she wins every day as she tries, learns and accomplishes new goals. Besides, in the company of nine children and 10 grandchildren, how could one ever feel down? “I love my children, they make me happy,” McMahon said. “I’m a normal person just like you, just because I am deaf doesn’t make me different.”
Joan McMahon was born deaf. HER Mother’s burst appendix during pregnancy caused her to lose the ability to hear for life. However, she never let that stop her from communicating, and she has never called it a handicap.
During her youth, McMahon attended the Catholic-run Boston School for the Deaf. There, she was taught by sisters to read lips. Sign language was discouraged and was even punished, according to her daughter Johanna Rivard. “They would pull hair, slap you with rulers and draw scalding hot baths,” Rivard said. “They were ferocious.”
Joan would meet her match in college, marry, raise nine children and would divorce five years ago. According to McMahon, communicating with her ex-husband became inconsistent. He would go on to meet another woman and, according to McMahon, left because she was deaf. “It broke my heart,” McMahon said. “But it’s OK, I moved on.”
Moved on she did. And like a phoenix from the ashes, McMahon would renew herself. At 65, she competed in the Ms. New Hampshire Senior America Pageant on Nov. 22. “I wanted to show my family that I could do it,” McMahon said. “Because I wanted to, I wanted to try.”
Since the divorce, she’s become more independent. McMahon has learned to drive a car and for the past few weeks has taken up sign language. For her talent portion of the pageant, she signed the song, “God Bless America.” Cheering her on, and taking up about a third of the audience at the Derryfield Performing Arts Theatre in Manchester, were her children, grandchildren and spouses, numbering more than 25. “They said ‘go for it, you can do it,’ ” McMahon said. She’s even taken up baking at a local Hannaford on top of her job as a bank clerk.
No, McMahon didn’t win that afternoon, she didn’t even place. However, it’s safe to say she wins every day as she tries, learns and accomplishes new goals. Besides, in the company of nine children and 10 grandchildren, how could one ever feel down? “I love my children, they make me happy,” McMahon said. “I’m a normal person just like you, just because I am deaf doesn’t make me different.”