At a reception at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Joanne Shoestock Silver was decorated Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes académiques by His Excellency Pierre Vimont, Ambassador of France to the United States. Ambassador Vimont was accompanied by Attachée Éducative Catherine Pétillon.

Guests included the Honorary Consul of France to Philadelphia, Michael Scullin; AATF Regional Representative Alice Cataldi; Director of France-Philadelphie, Danièle Thomas Easton; President Diana Regan and Executive Director Martine Chauvet of the Alliance Française de Philadelphie; Beach Lloyd Publishers’ authors from France, Canada and Pennsylvania.

A retired French teacher, Joanne is active in numerous Franco-American organizations and founded Beach Lloyd Publishers, LLC, whose mission is to recognize the ties between France and the U.S., and to view those shared ideals globally. BLP memoirs of World War II and the books Philadelphie à la française : La presence culturelle et historique des Français dans la vallée du Delaware and its English edition bear witness to these ties.