Personal History

I was born and raised in Michigan. My birthday is April 28. At age four-and-a-half I was adopted and brought up as an only child. I grew up outside a small resort town called Lake Orion (pronounced Lake Or´re-en by the locals). It is about 40 miles north of Detroit.

Throughout my childhood, I learned to play the piano and flute. (Later in life, I learned to play the drums when I was much older--mainly because my mother wouldn't let me when I was young. She believed it wasn't lady-like.)

I had lessons in fencing, tap dancing, modern dancing, ballet, ballroom dancing and singing. (After two years of attempted singing lessons, my teacher gave up on me because I couldn't carry a tune!) I was trained by John Robert Powers Modeling Agency and preformed as a child model.  

Surrounded by private lakes and wild game preserves, I evolved self-reliance and a sensitivity to my environment.

This set the stage for my love of witnessing the natural balance of ecology as it exists on the planet. My foremost companions were my horses, dogs, cats, and other small creatures.

Often alone, my activities frequently consisted of wildlife and nature studies, exploring the countryside, climbing trees and camping.

My mother would occasionally go hiking with me and teach me the names of all the trees and plants, and which wild  berries were safe to eat.

For my 12th birthday, my dad gave me a .22 rifle along with intensive safety and operations training. He would then take me hunting with him for small game--which would always end up on the dinner table.

He also taught me how to catch and prepare fish for our meals in the two-mile private lake that bordered our home.

My dad gave me professional driving lessons at a tender young age. (Driver's training as a business didn't exist yet in those days.) By the time I was 14, I got my first driver's license.

In summer, I loved playing golf, tennis, badminton, field hockey and croquet. I often spent time boating, sailing, swimming, hiking and English horseback riding. I loved riding my bike the three miles into town to meet up with my friends.

Winter offered extra time for avid reading and hours spent drawing. I especially liked ice skating, sledding, tobogganing and building igloos as a youngster. Indoor activities were board games, roller skating, bowling, and boxing lessons from my dad.

I was frequently rebellious. My mother called me precocious. I often had my own creative agenda for what I wanted to do that usually clashed with her wishes. My dad generally served as a peace-maker between my mother and I.

Despite shyness and a somewhat secluded childhood, I developed a sincere interest in people.

During my mid-teens, I left home to establish my independence. Because my business skills and work experience were basically non-existent at that age, I supported myself with a variety of odd jobs over the next two to three years.

Some of my work experiences during that time consisted of mother's helper (now called a nanny), housekeeper, maid (and yes, I wore a uniform), stable-hand which, yes, included mucking out horse stalls, waitress (now called a table server), drive-in carhop, short-order cook, auto paint masker, counter clerk in a bakery and a job in a cleaners where I learned all about how to do professional ironing.

Additionally, I worked as a retail salesclerk, phone solicitor (now called phone marketer), receptionist, elevator operator (when they still had them--operators, that is), typist and general office clerk.

Field work consisted of selling institutional janitorial supplies, art courses, residential remodeling, and printing.

My employment history later included training in career counseling and sales training by the world famous Zig Ziglar.

I had mastered the ("old" clunky) manual typewriter, which was state-of-the-art in those days, and traveled around the country working as a temp for Manpower and Kelly Girls, living in different cities and  states for a few years. Some of them included Philadelphia, Greenwich Village in New York City, Indianapolis, Gary, Indiana and Chicago.