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4A-SEA COAST ECHO-THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1979
Editorial	/
Heritage editor tells why 6Joe9 wears skirts
By JOE PILET
First an apology: I have always felt newspaper people should put news in the foreground and their private lives in the background. That is why a number of readers of the Sea Coast Echo think I am a man. I do have a masculine name.
I get letters addressed to ?Mr.? and phone calls asking for ?Mr. Joe Pilet.?
I was bcm in PoplarvOle, the youngest of three sisters. We had no brothers. In April I will be 69 years old!
TTien, an explanation:	I	am	not	a
historian. I am a journalist. I studied journalism at MSCW, worked as a reporter for the Times Picayune, and also was a contributing reporter to several Southern newspapers.
Then I worked for the Pan American Life Insurance Company. They put out a trade journal ?Palic.? I worked in that department.
Following my marriage to E. A. Allen, I worked for The Cotton Trade Journal. Offices were in the Cotton Exchange Building and I was assistant editor of the International Edition which served 34 foreign countries.
After my daughter Barbara and my son Joe were bom I was promoted to the formula-fixing, diaper-washing department and worked from my home address.
During World War II we moved around a lot since my husband was a Navy Recruiting Officer. But in 1949 we were civilians and put down roots in Pass Christian where I freelanced a bit under the name Joe Allen until my hus-? band?s death in 1958.
Then I worked in public relations for Gulfport?s Allied Van Lines.
In 1961 I was married to Colonel Nunez C. Pilet, U.S. Army, retired. Our \ home was ?Yasume? on North Beach
before Camille claimed it.
We traveled a lot, several European countries, Japan, Thialand, The Philli-pines, some islands, Mexico, Guatemala, etc. Wlien my son Joe graduated from Tulane University he wa3 commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Marines. He gave his life in Vietnam in 1968.
The following year my mother died. In 1973 Colonel Pilet died in Keesler Medical Center.
My daughter Barbara, now Mrs. Barry Bell, lives with her husband and three daughtes in Saa-liuui'Whefe her husband is director of the Veterans Administration.
I live alone and enjoy research, writing, gardening and making a few small contributions of my time to community activities.
I have edited Heritage I, and Heritage II, and Heritage III U-ehapi.Tg-up t>*ce+y. I feel fairly well qualified to write about Hancock County because as "a child I listened by the hour to conversations centering around happenings in this area and my family passed old records along to me.
But, YOU, the readers of the Sea Coast Echo, are my finest contributors -- my best source.
Everyone helps! Attics are explored, old storage boxes and old trunks are opened, Memories are shaipened. little souvenirs are found. Records in the city hall and court house are opened for perusal, old newspapers are searched through, and tlve Department of Archives and History has never failed to respond to a request.
So, because you cherish and honor the memories of those early settlers, Heritage III will record the growth and development of a pleasant place in which to live - HANCOCK COUNTY. /