Can it be possible that I have been an Associate Educator at Northside ABE for 7 years? Time really does fly when you are having fun! It has been a great pleasure and honor being part of such an amazing and gifted staff. You will usually see me all over our part of the building as I assist our ABE/GED teachers in the classrooms, mainly with their math and reading students. There are times when I am also available to the ELL teachers and their classes. I am unofficially Northside's photographer. It is how I avoid having MY picture taken. I love computers, so I enjoy helping Gina, our computer teacher. You can always call on me to unjam and adjust our 2nd floor copier. Wherever Marian sends me, I go. Working with our students has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. They energize me. As they learn from me, I learn from them. Something I try to pass on to them is that learning can be one of the most enjoyable pursuits possible. And it should be a life long experience. If I were to choose a personal motto, it would be, "Life is a banquet!"

I am a "daughter of the golden west" which means I was born and grew up in the Los Angeles area. My father was an animator and script writer for Walt Disney. He also wrote for the Bing Crosby radio show. My mother was a fashion model and under contract to MGM studios. After graduating from Glendale High School, I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where I majored in Zoology with a minor in History. After graduation I was a research assistant in the Zoology department, studying single celled organisms (protozoa/protists) with the electron microscope. It was at this time that I met my husband, Vern, who was a law student at Michigan. After his graduation we married and moved to Washington D.C. where I continued my research with the electron microscope, setting up the Food and Drug Administration's first electron microscopy lab. Over the years I continued in medical and biological research (cancer and virology) for other government facilities, private research labs, and universities. Vern and I have been married for over 40 years. Soon after we started our family I became a stay at home mom and was active in the Minneapolis Public Schools. We have 3 adult daughters, Jennie (Montana), Stephanie (San Francisco) and Vanessa (Minneapolis). We have lived in the same house in Minneapolis for 32 years. We love the Twin Cities and Minnesota. I even love the wintertime.

One of my great passions is reading and talking about books. We have thousands of books that are piled, stacked, shelved all over our house. I never leave a book store without at least one book in my clutches whether it be a biography, classic literature, history, humor or a juicy murder mystery. This last passion worries Vern. Hmmmm, shall it be an untraceable poison or a blunt instrument? I also enjoy travel, having had the good fortune to visit most of western Europe a number of times, falling in love with England, Italy and Greece. Vern and I also love to travel in our little Rialta RV. We have criss-crossed the USA, north and south, east and west, on many scenic byways. We spend several weeks each summer on San Juan Island which is north of Seattle. Perhaps we will retire there some day, but not just yet. I love Northside ABE, and all that it stands for, too much.