From day one in Miss Musgrave’s afternoon kindergarten at P.S.8, I became aware of two things:  I enjoyed the classroom environment, and I really liked to make things. So I aspired to teach, first kindergarten, then elementary school, then (while at THS) high school.  My second bent asserted itself when, at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, working on a BA in English Education, I took so many Art electives that I graduated in 1962 lacking some education requirements and student teaching.  That fall, on a weak shoestring, I entered the University of Iowa as a graduate Art student.

There I became aware of two things:  the Midwest, with its abundance of pleasant farmland surrounding each town and city, appealed to me, and, my life lacked meaning and direction.  I was lonely.  My Master’s Thesis bogged down in irrelevance.  In my need to “get real” I seized upon a thought in a sentence of a sermon  (--I had accompanied a roommate to  church). It was that Jesus could be my friend.

With this non-academic thought working in me, I completed my MA in Painting in 1965, along with the required ed. courses and student teaching, and took a job teaching junior high Art in Peoria, IL.  I rented a basement apartment near the center of town on the bus line to the school, found a large church within walking distance, and immediately became part of its “Twenties ‘n’ Thirties” singles class.  A few months later, Russel Moe, Wisconsin farm boy turned Service Training Instructor for Caterpillar, Peoria’s biggest employer, appeared at one of the Sunday evening socials. We were married in June, 1967.

My school-teaching career ended with the birth of the first of our four children in ‘69, and I was privileged to be the traditional homemaker for the next 35 stable and gratifying years.  Russel’s CAT  career involved him in marketing engines to the oil industry, making him a world traveler.  (As a spin-off from this, I’ve been to Russia and China.)  But we had good family times.  And notably, we always had bi-weekly home Bible Studies with a group of close friends.  In the mid-1980’s I joined Community Bible Study in Peoria and was a small group leader.  I was care-giver to my Mother in our home during her last years.

Retired in Florida since 2002, we are active in our church and volunteer at a charity thrift store.  Russel has been compiling photos and research on the history of each branch of each of our families.  Through travel and internet we’ve renewed and added to ties with our extended family (including a “15th cousin” in England whom we met there last October!).  Russ has other projects too.  I’ve been active in Bible Study Fellowship, enjoy singing with the church choir and our community’s chorus, working in our yard, and dabbling in homey arts and crafts.

Our three sons and one daughter, now all in their 30’s, all married, and our four young grandchildren, (--a fifth is in process!--) keep us traveling.  (The four families live in four other states--Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado and California!)