A New Englander, I moved to Seattle to teach after college. With a scholarship from the Child Hearing League of Seattle, I obtained my M.A. from Lexington School for the Deaf and Columbia University in NY. After joining the Department of Defense Dependent Schools, I taught in Labrador, then transferred to Bamberg, Germany where I met my future husband from England. I started writing while in Germany and had my first book published while living in the Canal, Zone, Panama — a teacher's language book, complete with student workbooks and playing cards that helped to reinforce "opposites" vocabulary. Stories in Ginn & Co. 4th grade readers followed along with newspaper and magazine columns. A monthly column in the Pacific Skipper magazine involved interviewing " yachties" who transitted the Panama Canal. ( I have always liked variety in my life!) Since retiring in Florida, I've written a history of Florida titled CRACKER COW, A NARRATIVE of FLORIDA HISTORY, which inspired me to set up a website and to market my book at numerous venues. My picture book series, GATSBY'S GRAND ADVENTURES includes two books thus far: Gatsby's Grand Adventures Book 1: Winslow Homer's "Snap the Whip" and Book 2: Auguste Renoir's "The Apple Seller", published by Guardian Angel Publishing.. Gatsby is an art gallery cat who jumps into famous paintings at night. If he remembers to jump out before dawn, everything is fine. But sometimes, Gatsby forgets. Each book in the series has a biography and several websites included so readers may learn more about the artist. (Book 3: Thomas Gainsborough's "Girl with Pigs" is due to be released in 2015. Currently, I'm working on several other picture books and an adult novel. I'm a member of the SCBWI, SSRA , CBI,and FCHNS, and am involved with online picture book courses and PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month), plus my PBS (Picture Book Scribblers) critique group. I volunteer at a local wildlife state park where I'm writing and presenting animal programs monthly, training a Dumbo Rat as a program rat, acting as docent weekly in the Discovery Center, and participating in an animal enrichment program. /p>My latest acceptance is a picture book titled The Not So Secret Life of Nimh: a Dumbo Rat! i'I've also had three pieces published this past yeyear in an online magazine.           .    

1. Researched and wrote guidelines for setting up the first special education classes in DODDS-Atlantic Region
2. Received various awards for teaching other teachers in a Master Teacher Program.
3. Wrote a 30-page proposal for the first elementary school library in the Canal Zone and set it up.
4.Produced a manual for Host Nation Teachers Manual in Panama and shared the guidelines with Host Nation personnel in DODDS-Germany.
5. Edited the Federally Employed Women's newsletter in the Canal Zone
6. Won First Place in Marjory Kinnan Rawlings Writer's Workshop Essay Contest in Gainesville, FL.
7. Awards for my Wildlife Jeopardy Programs