I was born in Newton, Kansas, the Land of Oz. My family moved to Elkhart, Indiana just before my seventh birthday. The Mennonite community, in which my family was a part, provided me with a wonderful sense of belonging and history. Singing in four-part harmony was standard fare in my church, and my extended neighborhood family thrived on folk music.

In 1965, after the massive “Palm Sunday Tornado” destroyed our neighborhood, my family and all our relatives and friends who lived on the same country road, got together every Saturday night for a hootenanny. The parents in the neighborhood began a folk group and called themselves “The Eleventh Hour.” Soon, the girls around my age formed our own folk group and were dubbed, “The Half Past.” I thumped the stand-up bass, played recorder and sang. By the time we left for college, the younger kids had formed, “The Last Minutes.” All three groups frequently performed locally. I started writing my own songs when I moved away from home and needed to keep myself company.

I n 1987, after nine years in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, my husband's stomping grounds, Marv and I, and our kids Talitha and Peter moved to Vermont where I attended graduate school. We soon joined the Hanover Friends Monthly Meeting.

There was a period of about 15 years when I didn't write songs. Instead, I was raising my daughter and son, working full time, creating sculpture and painting. I worked for nine years as an art therapist, and have taught elementary school art since 1998. I teach my students how to mix colors, wash their brushes, score and slip their clay and how to use and clean their glue bottles through songs I've made up.

In the year 2000, I began writing songs again in earnest, and in 2007-2008, I performed 18 free concerts called Songs of Hope, in Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Indiana.

In 2005, I began speaking out against the death penalty with The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing, a grassroots organization that works to abolish the death penalty and advocates for healing for murder victim family members, rather than fanning flames of hatred or vengeance. I have continued to speak out against the death penalty, giving talks at Rotary Clubs, Lion's Clubs, churches, Quaker Meetings, high schools, universities and prisons. The opportunity to tell my story and help others find forgiveness has become a ministry that I am deeply grateful for.

In 2008, Pete Sutherland and Colin McCaffrey joined me to produce my first CD, comprised of my Songs of Hope collection. The name of the album is called “Beauty So Close.” The title song of the same name is dedicated to my mother, who was brutally murdered when I was thirteen. This album is a deep expression of the joy and peace I've come to, despite the challenges of loss during my childhood.

In 2008, Hanover Friends Monthly Meeting made me a “Released Friend,” which has enabled me to take a year's leave of absence from my teaching job to travel all over the country speaking about forgiveness and love. States where I have spoken and sung, or am scheduled to tour, include California, Oregon, Colorado, Montana, Indiana, Ohio, New Hampshire, Missouri, Texas and Pennsylvania.

All of that is good, but on top of that, I am now a grandmother and life couldn't get much better. Mayla, at 8 months old has already begun playing the harmonica, kazoo and recorder. I'm hearing the first musical notes of our family's next generation folk band!