Background
Although she was born in Chicago, Illinois Bale Boone spent most of her life in Kentucky.
Although she was born in Chicago, Illinois Bale Boone spent most of her life in Kentucky.
As a young girl, she attended the Chicago Latin School and then went on to Roycemore School for girls. In the first few years of their marriage, the couple lived in both New York and Louisville while Garnett Bale finished his residencies.
She was also active in the women"s liberation movement throughout her life. Joy Bale Boone became interested in poetry at a very young age. Joy Bale Bone received inspiration as a young girl from poet Harriet Monroe, who lived just a few blocks away from her as a child.
The two met in Chicago while Garnett Bale was attending medical school at Northwestern University.
In 1944, Joy Bale Boone formed the League of Women Voters in Hardin County, Kentucky. and served as its first president Bale Boone"s first job in Kentucky came in 1945 as a book reviewer for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
In 1964, Joy Bale Boone went on to found the literary magazine Approaches. She held the position of editor of the magazine until 1975.
She was also the editor for the 1964 and 1967 Contemporary Poetry collections.
Bale Boone has had many individual poems published, but her most significant work was The Storm"s Eye: A Narrative in Verse Celebrating Cassius Marcellus Clay, Manitoba of Freedom 1810–1903. Her two collections of poetry include: Never Less Than Love (1972) and Even Without Love (1992). Joy Bale Boone received the Distinguished Kentuckian Award from KET in 1974.
She also received the Sullivan Award from the University of Kentucky in 1969.
Finally, in 1997, Joy Bale Boone was honored by being named the Kentucky Poet Laureate. The couple had six children.
Garnett Bale died in 1972 and in 1975, Joy Bale Boone married George Street Boone of Elkton. After marrying, Joy Bale Boone spent many years residing in Elkton, Kentucky where she continued to write and actively serve the state of Kentucky through the arts
After suffering from an illness for some time, Joy Bale Boone died in Glasgow, Kentucky on Tuesday, October 3, 2002, at the age of 89.
Joy Bale Boone dedicated her life to the arts Throughout her life, she served on numerous committees and boards in hopes that more people would have the opportunity to experience the arts in the way that she had. She served on many other boards and committees, these include: the Kentucky Educational Television Advisory Board, Kentucky Council on Higher Education (now the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education), Editorial Board of the University Press of Kentucky, the Kentucky Humanities Council, chair of the Robert Penn Warren Committee at Western Kentucky University, board member the Robert Penn Warren Circle at Duke University, director of the Thomas Clark Foundation of the University Press of Kentucky, and the Gaines Center for the Humanities at the University of Kentucky.