It is true - the day I met Wayne I was mowing the yard. I lived on one corner of the block and he on the other. I knew he had been watching me for quite sometime as he would follow me if I went to the store near our house. One day he even asked me if I wanted a ride but I said no.

A couple of weeks later I was out mowing and he stopped his car in front of my house and I turned off the mower and we began to talk. A year and a half later we were married. We have been married for 35 years and have a son and a daughter both of whom have made us very proud to be their parents.

I started my studies in photography in 1979. I started out by learning all I could about darkroom techniques doing both color and black and white photo processing. I began to get old photographs and started making copies of them for family. One of my friends asked me to do one for her of her father-in-law who was a coal miner for over 50 years. The photo was faded so I asked her if I could take a picture of him instead. The picture came out so good that I ended up processing about 50 cibachromes for all their family members. Wayne talked me into entering the photo in a contest being held by TVA...little did I know that I would win First Place and Best of Show with my photo. They also placed my photo in the office where the old miner once worked. I soon received a call asking if the photo could be used on the cover of "Coal People Magazine". Off course I said yes. After a newspaper article was written about me and my photograph my phone started ringing from people wanting me to do portraits for them. 25 years later photography is still my number 1 hobby.

I am a collector of many different things. I love pottery and glassware, lighthouses and sea shells. My biggest collection would have to be my dishes.

My favorite thing to do is spend time with Wayne hunting corundum in the mountains of North Carolina. I enjoy the quiet times we spend camping and hiking and having picnics in the woods. I've even managed to find a few good rocks myself. He takes me along to carry the coffee...I take him along to carry back all my big rocks.