Frank Exline's first wife, Dona, died in 1937. Sometime around 1938, Edith was hired by Frank to help him raise his children. JoAnn's parents had been divorced shortly after her birth. JoAnn moved in with the two younger Exline children Emaleen and Joe and the older son Gerald. They lived at a couple of homes before they moved into the house on Old Field Fork. Frank and Edith married in 1943. JoAnn went to several elementary schools including a one room school. She only recalls seeing her father a few times in her life. She graduated from Weston High School.
She had come to stay with her Aunt Mary in McKinley Heights, Ohio and work the summers before she graduated. After she graduated, she moved to Niles, Ohio and got a job with the Education Department.
Frank and Edith Exline in the early 1950's
JoAnn, Emaleen and Joe with Frank and Edith
Joe, JoAnn, Emaleen and Jud in 1964
Exline Meaning and Origin
Altered spelling of German Exlein, a variant of Öchslein, from Middle High German ochse ‘ox’ + the diminutive suffix -lin; an occupational name for someone who tended the cattle or for a cattle dealer. Alternatively, it may have been a nickname for a farmer who had only oxen for plowing, or perhaps for someone thought to resemble an ox.
