Elaine's parents had six children, she happened to be number six. When she came along her siblings were either teenagers or in their twenties. By the time she became a teenager, her parents had retired. Her growing up years were flavored with many stories from her parents of "old times". They told of how both of them moved from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado in covered wagons. Her grandparents were real pioneers, blacksmiths, and homesteaders. Westerns played on the television every evening as she did homework. Books by Grace Livingston Hill, Zane Grey, Hilda Stahl, and Louis L'Amour made up the majority of her entertainment selections. All of this was the basis of an appreciation of by-gone days. Her mother and father are gone now but their stories live on in her writing.

"Nan's Journey", Book I of the Nan's Heritage Series, received the Best Historical Christian Fiction of 2008 from Christian Story Tellers. "Luke's Legacy", soon to be published Book III, received Honorable Mention Historical Christian Fiction from Christian Story Tellers.