Inspired by Joanie's passion for the water
Written by Eileen Wang
SPLASHForward received a generous donation from longtime Bellevue resident Tim Adkisson in memory of his wife Joan (Andrews) Adkisson, known as Joanie to friends.
Joanie’s story speaks to the importance and impact of a public community pool. From water safety to community connection, exercise to competition, recovery to well-being, access to water has played a central role in Joanie’s life.
Tim Adkisson receiving a donor award from SPLASHForward Co-Founder and Board President Susan Pappalardo. Photo by LumiLux Productions.
Joanie’s parents, Jack Andrews and Janet (Brooke) Andrews, met at the University of Washington and started their family in the Seattle area. “Swimming was a major part of our whole family’s life,” describes Jack. Jack remembers always enjoying swimming. Without formal lessons, he would jump into Puget Sound to figure out how to swim as a kid. He and Janet felt it was important for their kids to be safe around the water. “Our family was boating, and it was a safety measure to make sure they didn’t drown,” says Jack. They took their kids to swim lessons early on, with Joanie in the stroller watching her older siblings Jill and Ken in the pool. Janet recalls, “[Joanie] would see them swimming, sitting in her stroller, and you could just see that she wanted to be in there too.”
The Andrews family moved to Houston, Texas in 1967 where Jack worked on the Apollo Spacecraft project doing analysis for the lunar landing and docking. Like Bellevue today, Houston at that time was experiencing population growth as people moved there to work at NASA. A new community pool had just opened a block and a half from their home, and Jack and a co-worker friend organized the swim team that Jill and Ken joined.
Clear Lake Forest Community Pool, Houston, Texas
As a toddler, Joanie took swim lessons and soon joined the team at age five, competing in the 8&under division. Swimming became a way of life, and a way for Jack and Janet to create a healthy family lifestyle. They forged friendships and connections within their community, and the events at the pool brought everyone together.
Photo by LumiLux Productions
With Jack’s job at Boeing, the Andrews family moved back to Bellevue, WA in 1973. They joined the nearby Somerset Recreation Club pool, and the kids swam year-round with local teams. When asked for her fondest swim memory of Joanie, Janet tells a story of “playing bridge with friends at home. When Joanie came by to say good night, one of the friends asked Joanie what she liked best about swimming. Joanie said, ‘winning.’” Joanie was an accomplished age group swimmer by this time, with individual medley (IM) and butterfly as her favorite events. One of the first classes of students at Somerset Elementary, Joanie later led the Newport High School girls swim and dive team to win the State Championship all four years, 1979 – 1983. Joanie continued her swimming career on scholarship at Texas Tech University, competed in Masters swimming, and swam with the Masters group at Bellevue Club, sometimes alongside her dad Jack. “The water [had] become a way of life by that point,” Jack says. She continued to swim for the rest of her life.
“The water [had] become a way of life by that point”
Photo by LumiLux Productions
Joanie, to this day, holds youth records at Somerset Recreation Club and helped Newport High School earn 4 consecutive State Championships
Joanie’s individual event medals from WA State Championships from 1979-83 and her Junior National 1st place award from 1980.
Joanie with the WA State Championship award for Newport HS Swim & Dive
Swimming was how Joanie met Tim as well. Having seen Joanie on the same bus to work, Tim figured out Joanie’s workout schedule and conveniently was in the hot tub at Bellevue Club at the same time as Joanie one day to ask her out on their first date. While Tim never competed in swimming, all seven Adkisson children learned how to swim in the Seattle area, and they spent time at the pool regularly. At age 25, Tim suffered a back injury while hiking. Swimming was a way for Tim to initially help his back heal, and later to get cardio exercise without putting strain on his back. Tim improved enough to be able to swim with the Masters group. He often worked out with Joanie, and continues to swim regularly.
When Tim reflects on what would have excited Joanie about SPLASHForward, he thinks about a time when a little girl was on the pool deck and was so excited to meet Joanie. The girl had just recently broke one of Joanie’s records at Somerset Recreation Club and was overjoyed to meet the person who held the record before her. It’s this continuity and access for young kids to develop their water safety and love of swimming that really inspired Joanie. Tim’s gift honors Joanie’s love for the water by helping establish a world class public swimming facility in Bellevue to benefit the greater community.
Photo by LumiLux Productions
Thank you Tim for your generous gift in loving memory of Joanie
Your gift will help fulfill aquatic dreams for so many
With gratitude
