Deanna “DeeDee” Johnson-Cook

• Name: Deanna “DeeDee” Johnson-Cook

• Age: Old enough

• Family: Husband, Charles; two children, Dayla and Hayden

• City of residence: Hallwood

• Occupation: Contractual marketing researcher for Hands On Video Relay Services in Rocklin

• Hobbies, interests: Riding horses and raising “fainting goats”

• What do you do with your goats? Breed and sell them

• Where do you get your news? Appeal-Democrat newspaper and Web site, and News 10 on television

• What brought you to the Yuba-Sutter area? Born and grew up in Hallwood. My children are the fifth generation living in Hallwood.

• What keeps you in the Yuba-Sutter area? Family and farming. My parents farm walnuts; we grow pecans and raise goats.

• How long have you been in the Yuba-Sutter area? All my life, except for the nine years I was in college studying biology

• How would you describe yourself? Friendly, pioneer and country girl

• Tell us about a life-changing experience? Three years ago, I was working as a necropsy deiner doing autopsies on laboratory animals for medical research when I got injured and could not continue my job. I had to make a career change and went into marketing.

• What was your first job? I worked at Beale Air Force Base as a file clerk when I was 16.

• What is your dream job? Working in the veterinary field or starting up a therapy horse-riding business to help other people overcome their limitations

• How long have you been deaf? I was born deaf.

• Favorite sports: Volleyball, swimming, softball, track and cheerleading

• Favorite movie? “Flicka”

• What kind of pets do you have? Two horses, six goats, three dogs, one cat, one rabbit and one fish

• Do you have any pet peeves? People who think deaf people can’t do things, and people who have no patience with communicating with deaf people.

• What was your favorite/least favorite subject in school? Favorite: science and math, least favorite: history

• Do you belong to any clubs or organizations in the community? Deaf Advisory Council

• What are some of your fondest memories? Riding my first owned horse, Smokey, and barrel racing together. We won several ribbons.

• What are your favorite foods? Mexican

• What was the last good book you read? “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

• If you were in charge, what would you change about the community? More access for the deaf, like captioning in local movie theaters, more American Sign Language interpreters provided locally and public servants to learn basic ASL.

• What is the closest you’ve been to a famous person? Marlee Matlin. I met her at several places. The first time was at California School for the Deaf in Fremont. She came to give a presentation at my school. Later, I ran into her a few times while I was a student at Gallaudet University. She would come to deaf social events.

• If you were granted one wish, what would you wish for? To get my job as a necropsy deiner without my injury

• Favorite television shows: “House” and all of the “CSI” shows