However, once I entered high school my interest shifted to music. I went to a conservatory of music on scholarship for vocal music performance but changed colleges the second year, choosing instead to study journalism at Illinois State University.

Being Irish, I made the very bad choice to marry right out of college, and for an extended time was too busy having and caring for babies, including my exhusband, to do anything creative. It was at this time I became aware of a growing trend in training and handling search and rescue dogs, and began researching the subjet. When my husband left me with two small children to raise in order to marry a woman who vowed to support him in the manner to which he intended to become accustomed, I found a full time and a part time job, acquired my first German shepherd, and went into training with the Tennessee Task Force K-9 unit. What followed was disaster training and experience in the Red Cross, a local volunteer fire department, and the local search and rescue unit, culminating in a 10 year stint as county deputy emergency manager. This last happened simultaneously with 10 years as an investigative reporter and photographer for the local daily newspaper, where I won numerous awards as a reporter and photographer. Health issues forced me to retire early, but gave me the opportunity to write my first novel. I am well into my second novel, and am working on a children's book with my granddaughters.