I am 75 years young – mother of seven, grandmother of seven, and soon-to-be the great-grandmother of a little boy. I am aiming for seven great-grandchildren! I was born in France, three months after the war started in 1939. I worked in the US army as an international switchboard operator where I met my husband. We lived in El Paso, Texas and Santa Monica, California before landing in Winston-Salem, NC to be closer to family.

I love God, Jesus, my family, people and animals. I am having a harder time “loving thy neighbor.” Love is not what he needs; a swift kick to the kazoo would be better!

I am tenacious. I got the gift of tenacity from my father. I do not give up, and when I am having a hard time “being perfect,” all I have to do is look at a picture stamped in the back with the infamous “Stalag 17” where my father was a prisoner of war. He never gave up, never lost hope that he would come home, and he did. He gave me that gift!