Member Bio

I was born in Albion, Michigan while my parents were at college, but have no connection with the place, spent early years in Kansas while Dad finished his masters and moved to Las Cruces in 1955, where I fell in love with NM. My Dad was a biologist and folk-singing and mother taught: they have over 60 years between them. Dad helped start the local chapter of Planned Parenthood, was president of NEA, President of the NM Academy of Science and hosted the National Science Fair. He was State Representative for Dona Ana County from 1991-1998, retiring due to health issues. After completing several years at NMSU, my husband and I moved to Lummi Island, WA where we taught Head Start and had our daughter, Laura, who is now a director at Harvard. We moved to the Bay Area where I studied Geology and completed a multi-subject teaching credential at Sonoma State College while attending The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. I played bass and sang in our band when we toured in California and Wyoming. I moved back to Las Cruces and finished my MA in Education at NMSU while teaching at Gadsden Junior High School. My next career was gift buyer at Glen Cutter Jewelers. With retail and teaching experience, I ended up teaching Retail Marketing at Dona Ana Branch Community College at NMSU. In 1984, my partner, an English antique dealer, persuaded me to join him in London to sell Antique Chinese Export and shipwreck porcelain. We eventually had a shop in Harrods and Portobello Road for over 17 years, exhibited for years at the Olympia Antique Fair and had shows at Gumps in LA and San Francisco, Bloomingdales in New York and Boston and many fairs in Singapore and Hong Kong. The British Museum commissioned us to buy rare shipwreck porcelain pieces for their collection. I lived in London for 32 years before returning to Santa Fe which was always my Mecca after studying Pueblo and Navajo arts in my teens. I finally designed and built a home here in 2000. Unfortunately, 9/11 affected my porcelain business so was unable to return to Santa Fe until 2016. Along with antique business, I also designed homes, did renovations, landscaping and decorating in London and NM. We recently refurbished a home on Acequia Madre and are currently working on two apartments next door. I've been politically active since helping Dad campaign for Adlai Stevenson in 1956. You could't live in our house and not get involved politically. SOS was a godsend for me as it became an island of sanity under Trump. I am grateful for all of you and for our voice!