Yolande Cornelia (Watson) Giovanni (1919 - 2005)

Born 5 Jan 1919 in Albany, Dougherty County, Georgia, United States

Ancestors

Died 24 Jun 2005 at age 86 in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia, United States

Biography

Yolande (Watson) Giovanni is a part of US Black heritage.

Yolande Cornelia Watson was born on 5 Jan 1919 in Albany, Dougherty County, Georgia. She was the oldest daughter of John Brown Watson and Emma Louvenia Terrell.^[1] In 1920, she and her parents lived with her grandmother Cornelia Watson, with both of her parents working as teachers.^[2] By 1930, they had moved to Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee and Yolande's two younger sisters had been born.^[3]

Yolande graduated from Knoxville College in 1939 and joined the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Shortly after graduating, on 3 Jul 1939, she married Jones "Gus" Giovanni.^[1] They had two daughters, Gary Ann Giovanni (1940-2005) and poet Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (b. 1943). After Nikki's birth, they moved from Knoxville to Cincinnati, Ohio.^[4][5] In Cincinnati, Yolande first worked as a housemother at Glenview School, a boys home. She then taught third grade at St. Simon's School. She finally moved to a career with the Hamilton County Social Services Department and rose to the position of a supervisor before retiring in 1982. After her husband died in 1982, she moved to Danville, California, where she lived with her daughter Gary. They moved to Blacksburg, Virginia in 1993 so that they could be closer to Nikki.^[1]

Yolande died on 24 Jun 2005.^[1] She is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.^[6] She is remembered for "her love of singing, her love of sports and games, her great cooking, her wonderful sense of humor, her protectiveness of her children and theirs."^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} "GIOVANNI, Yolande Cornelia Watson," obituary, The Roanoke Times [Virginia], 26 Jun 2005, page 8, column 3; image copy, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-roanoke-times-yolande-cornelia-watso/135532679/ : accessed 21 Nov 2023).
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1920," ED 59, Albany, Dougherty County, Georgia, USA; sheet 15A, family 365, Cornelia Yolende Watson in Cornelia Watson household; FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJDK-WJ7.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," ED 47-7, Knoxville ward 5, Knox County, Tennessee, USA; sheet 3B, family 61, Yolande Watson in John B. Watson household; FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SP4V-GPJ.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," ED 97-9, Knoxville ward 5, Knox County, Tennessee, USA; sheet 7B, family 165, Yoland Giovanni in Jones Giovanni household; FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4HB-WC4.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1950," ED 31-233, Springfield, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA; sheet 9, dwelling 1038, Yolande C Giovanni (age 31) in Jones Giovanni household; FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XYB-DY41.
6. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11261702/yolande-cornelia-giovanni: accessed 20 November 2023), memorial page for Yolande Cornelia Watson Giovanni (5 Jan 1919–24 Jun 2005), Find A Grave: Memorial #11261702, citing Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Laurie (contributor 2811407).