As a trained Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant, I work collaboratively with individuals, couples and families to create and provide ceremonies that acknowledge and commemorate the private and public thresholds that change us and mark our coming of age and the passage of our lives. As I look back over the arc of my professional training and career, the phrases “family life cycle,” “thresholds” and “rites of passage” remain profoundly meaningful to me as I have evolved from a Home Economics/Consumer and Family Studies teacher into a Celebrant with a thriving, engaging practice.

My entire professional life, from my first-year teacher “Bachelor Survival” through my tenth wedding season this year, has involved educating, learning from and offering support and encouragement to children, teenagers and adults as they prepare for the next phase of their lives. I am truly privileged to sit with individuals and families, to learn and to listen to stories that I incorporate into ceremonies—stories that also teach me how to live my own life and make my own way in the world.

I’m a life-long resident of Colorado—the middle kid, raised on a farm with an older brother and younger sister. I am grateful to have close relationships with my siblings and their spouses. I’m also a mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. Time with family—especially my granddaughter—is one of my greatest joys. They were, and continue to be, incredibly supportive when I lost my spouse in 2012.

I had the privilege of being with my mother when she died at the age of 97. It was one of the most profound experiences of my life, right up there with the birth of my children and granddaughter and my second wedding day.

I share my home in Westminster, Colorado, with a year-old Miniature Schnauzer mix who always makes me laugh. In my spare time—when I’m not walking my dog in the neighborhood—I’m a reader, writer, knitter and counted cross-stitcher. I sing in a community choir and a church choir.

I began taking piano lessons in 2012. My teacher puts up with me! I have as many excuses about not practicing as her younger students. I enjoy cooking and eating foreign foods. Thanksgiving is my favorite meal to prepare for guests and family.

I enjoy traveling with family and friends to fun destinations in the US. My siblings and I are still in relationship with each other after a 2-week trip inland and cruise to Alaska! My favorite recent adventure was a “Best of Italy” tour in June 2018. I loved Florence, Tuscany, Venice, panacotta and gelato, but who doesn’t???

• B.S., Colorado State University, Vocational Home Economics Education, 1974
• M.A., Library Media, University of Colorado at Denver, 1998
• Home Economics/Consumer and Family Studies Instructor, 1974-1999
• Elementary School Librarian, 1999-2004
• Student Achievement Coach, 2004-2010
• Certified in Weddings (2010) and Funerals (2012),Celebrant Foundation and Institute, Montclair, NJ
• Owner, Colorado Ceremonies & Celebrations, LLC, 2010-Present
• Certified in Grief and Death Studies, The Center for Loss and Life Transition, 2014