Joyce Benning Vandever & Grandson

I was born in San Jose, California and have lived in the Silicon Valley Bay Area my entire life. In fact, I'm 3rd generation San Jose which is a rarity these days. I was raised by my mother Kathleen Rae (Kroetch) Pinna with the help of my grandmother Marian Joyce (Benning) Kroetch. I spent my early years in the Cambrian area of San Jose, a few years in Palo Alto, and own homes in Cambrian and Willow Glen California. I attended St. Francis Cabrini k-8th grade, Bellarmine College Preparatory and Santa Clara University. My passion has always been building things since an early age. I worked at the Santa Clara Valley Contractors Association (SCVCA) for my mentor Larry Gates while attending high school and each weekend answered the phones (aka switchboard) for the Jesuit Priests on a work scholarship program. I continued to work at SCVCA while attending college where I began the Santa Clara Entrepreneur Organization (SCEO), was active in the Student Senate and Off Campus Student Association, and in my sophomore year began the first version of AncientFaces. Post graduation I went on to manage a sub-contracting kitchen & bath remodeling company for three years, then worked as VP of Business Development at an eDiscovery company in Palo Alto from 2006 until the end of 2010. In early 2011, I began working full time on AncientFaces and have been at it ever since. I am humbled that I get to help build the application and community that makes AncientFaces. I married Lisa Michelle Kinslow on June 14th, 2014 in Pebble Beach, and currently reside in Willow Glen California approximately 4 miles away from where both sets of my grandparents used to live around the 1950's.

Joyce Vandever (as she was known in her later years) was a loving mother of two daughters Kathleen Rae (Kroetch) Pinna & Pam (Kroetch) Marks who she had with Frank Kroetch, and grandma to two grandchildren Daniel J Pinna & Layne. Joyce had a half-sister, Lois (Benning) Ewen, the product of her father's first marriage. She also had a step-brother, Charles Henry Barrett Jr., from her mother's second marriage to Charles Henry "Heine" Barrett. She had many friends and relatives in California, Washington state, England and Wales. Her best childhood and lifelong closest friend was Beverly Clarice (Washington) Scoffone in Monte Sereno California. Joyce loved being a grandmother and spent countless weekends with her grandchildren. She lived in the California Hawaiian mobile home park at 3637 Snell Ave in San Jose for many years when it was an adult community. To hear Joyce describe herself see Joyce Vandever In Her Own Words