Joan Tag

It was a late afternoon in April when Joan Ballard received the invitation to revisit a world she’d left behind way back.The lifelong Portlander, 86, lives alone. Her parents and two siblings have died, and he or she never married. She showers love on Lulu, a small dog that barks at visitors.Ballard settled in a straightforward chair that Tuesday and held the ticket that, if she wished, would take her back to the wild lifestyle that when defined her. She dismissed the offer with a wave of her hand.“That,” she said, “is prior to now.”A past that involved throwing other women around a tattered canvas ring and crashing down on top of them. All to the hoots and cheers of...