I was born and raised in Arkansas. I attended Harding University and graduated in 1979 with a
degree in English. My first job was at the high school in Augusta, Arkansas where I taught
seniors and sophomores. I also sponsored the senior class, the student council and Beta Club.
Paddling was still the policy then and I once had to paddle the superintendent’s son.
Judsonia High School in Judsonia, Arkansas was my next job and I taught grades 10, 11 and 12.
I sponsored cheerleaders, the senior class, and the yearbook. Because I spent extremely
long hours working on the yearbook, I had keys to the building. The days preceding deadlines
I often worked from 6:00 a.m. until after midnight. I got close and personal with some unbeliev-
ably large cockroaches. My hard work paid off: the second year I sponsored yearbook, the book
received an award. At the end of that year, I married. Many of my students attended the
wedding; when we arrived at the Peabody in Memphis for our honeymoon, some of my former
students were there eating in one of the Peabody’s famous restaurants.
I taught one year at Monroe High School in Albany, Georgia. The next year I actually taught
kindergarten and sponsored the yearbook at South Georgia Christian Academy. It was
sponsored by the church of which we were members.
I taught one year at Bainbridge High School and then one year at Jefferson County High School.
For two years I taught 6, 7, and 8 th grade gifted Language Arts, as well at Nims before moving to
Rickards to teach 11 th and 12 th grade gifted English, as well as Advanced Placement English
Literature. In the summer of 1990 I was a Carnegie Mellon fellow and was sent to training for
APE, which I taught for several years. While teaching APE, I was fortunate enough to attend
summer workshops, including one at Wake Forrest and several at Bolles in Jacksonville. Words
cannot express how much I enjoyed teaching APE or how much I miss teaching the
classes. For the past several years, I have taught reading and American literature. For many
years I sponsored a very active Anchor Club at RHS.
In my free time, I read almost non-stop, enjoy my family and breed, raise and adore AKC
standard poodles.