Joyce Girdley Risinger was born in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, the first of seven children. She dropped out of school at the age of sixteen to help her mother. She married a navy man when she was seve...view moreJoyce Girdley Risinger was born in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, the first of seven children. She dropped out of school at the age of sixteen to help her mother. She married a navy man when she was seventeen, and they are the parents of three. They now live in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.view less