I was born December 28, 1942, into an

artistic family of singers, dancers, painters,

and poets. Early arts training was a means

of thriving in the family circle. I took piano

lessons, dance lessons, played the

flute in my elementary school orchestra,

took acting lessons at the local community

theater. I enjoyed summer vacations on

the DD Ranch outside Skellytown, TX.

My cousins and I spent endless hours

riding horseback, searching for arrow-

heads, swimming in White Deer Creek,

and fishing from the shores along the

lake. Those days were charmed and left

an indelible picture of gentler times

chronicled in the Cardwell Ranch Stories.

 

After graduating from Denver University,

I spent three years on the road with Ship-

stad and Johnson’s Ice Follies. After 

returning to my hometown, Amarillo, TX,

in 1968, I became the first figure skating

instructor at  Amarillo Civic Center ice

arena.  In 1983, I founded Amarillo College Theatre School For Children, which I ran for twenty-one years. I was acting coach for the Lone Star Ballet. At  Amarillo Opera, I was production manager and created an actor’s intensive for young people serious about a theatrical career.  

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I am director emeritus of Amarillo College Conservatory Theatre, which I founded in 2011. During my teaching career, I was named a Texas Artist In Residence by the Texas Commission On The Arts and honored as Panhandle Distinguished Woman and 2013 Amarillo Globe-News Woman Of the Year.

 

One of my long-term goals was to write children’s books. The Pandemic of 2020 gave me the time to focus on that dream. The Cardwell Ranch Stories is the realization of that dream.

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