There's an old saying, "Bloom where you're planted." I bloomed in Griffith, Indiana, the hometown of my heart.
A railroadman's daughter who majored in journalism and minored in history, I came to Griffith, Indiana, in 1976 after marrying my husband, Alan. The next four years, I grew to love the small town, and also gave birth to my last two sons.
During that same time, the town was working to save the last of their three railroad depots to turn into a museum.
A railroadman's daughter. In a town that is creating a railroad museum. Talk about serendipity!
Over more than four decades on the Board of Directors, and most of those years as curator of the Griffith Historical Society, I helped create and grow The Griffith Historical Park & Museum, featured on the next page.
Griffith is also where my writing bloomed, thanks in large part to my work with the museum. My first published book, THE CABOOSEMAN'S GARDEN, was kindled by stories told to me by Griffith residents.
The chapter book is now used to usher in the study of Griffith's railroading heritage as part of the 3rd grade Social Studies curriculum.
The Historical Park's road caboose is the subject of my picture book, THE LAST RIDE OF THE 503, telling the tale of of a caboose that no longer rides the rails.
Inspiration for my elephant book, a middle grade historical adventure novel, grew out of my research for the museum. More about that story on my Books page.
As a child, I moved around a lot, due in large part to my father being a railroader, but once coming to Griffith, I never moved again. Instead, I put down roots and bloomed.