I was born at Fort Campbell, Kentucky on 20 March 1950 to an Army Military family so, early on, moving was a normal activity for an “Army Brat” like me.  When I was six, our family moved to Bad Nauheim, Germany where Private Elvis Presley was also assigned which was exciting.  Adding to that, summer vacations were spent touring world famous museums in France, Italy, Germany and adjoining countries, viewing work by Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Monet, and more.  This early introduction to the great artists changed my life – I knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up.  

From Germany, our family moved to Fort Rucker, Alabama and I finished school with a Masters in Secondary Education and a major/minor in Art from Troy University, Alabama.  With my degree, I obtained a job working as an Arts and Crafts Instructor at Fort Rucker teaching painting, pottery, sculpture, jewelry making, and other assorted minor crafts such as basket making, stained glass, and leather crafts.

After working for two years at the Fort Rucker Arts and Crafts Shop, I dreamed of revisiting Germany and all the exciting museums in Europe.  I wanted to go overseas and started applying for employment in Germany working for the Department of Defense.   I was selected for a job in Germany as an Arts and Crafts Director - thus began a long journey working for the Army and Air Force at Bases in Germany, Korea, Italy and the USA in Arts and Crafts Shops which included supervising sometimes 70 employees in areas of ceramics, photography, woodworking, auto crafts, framing, firing kilns, and safety for all small crafts areas, etc., (most of my employment was overseas, thus the experience of living in another country for 22 years).    

I retired after 32 years working for Department of Defense, and moved to Panama City Beach and continue to do artwork daily.  I have taken several painting classes in the past few years and am living my dream of being a full time artist.