Janis Joplin was born on this date (January 19) in 1943. She would have been 69 years old.

The photo is Janis in her kindergarten class in 1947 at Tyrrell Elementary in Port Arthur, Texas. She is in the 2nd row from the front, the 2nd kid from the left. Port Arthur was her home town, and it is mine also.

My sister once worked at the same Texaco refinery as Seth Joplin, Janis’s father. One rainy day, Mr. Joplin picked up my sister and a few co-workers in his car to transport them from one part of the refinery to another.

The teacher in the photo, Ms. Higginbotham, is still alive today at age 86. According to panews.com, this is what Ms. Higginbotham said about Janis: “I wasn’t interested in all that racket she was making with those groups in the 60s.”