I was born in Kingsville, Texas, in March 1955.
Dad was a pilot in the United States Air Force
and, as befit the times, mom was a housewife.
My family included me, three brothers, and one
sister. After my dad died in 1961, my mother
remarried, creating an additional family of
three step-sisters and one step-brother.
Ours was a musical family, and I started piano
lessons under my mother when I was 2, violin
lessons in first grade in Brigham City, Utah,
and voice in sixth grade in Kingsville, Texas.
Violin was my favorite, but I quit all three in
April 1993 when I moved to San Diego,
California, and became a “beach bum.”
Along with my diploma from Henrietta M. King
High School in Kingsville, Texas, in May 1973,
I earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from
Texas A&M University in December 1978. I never
enjoyed a job in the forestry industry, though,
instead having a business career working or
owning businesses in many industries, including
grocery export, antique restoration, roofing,
landscaping, heating and cooling, international
and wireless telecommunications, computer
sales, writing and editing, typing and desktop
publishing, construction, real estate agent, real
estate investing and renovating (flipping), project
management, business consultant, home inspector,
photographer, and published author.
Russel Ray Photos is my company that manages
the thousands of pictures in my collection.
Photographic Art is my company that takes my
pictures and uses various digital photograph
editing programs to make those pictures look
like anything other than a picture. Double R
Creations is my company that uses my pictures
to make calendars, magnets, mugs, puzzles,
and more. Tpots are specialized plant containers
specifically meant to showcase air plants—
Tillandsia species—and to help those plants
grow in the low-humidity environs of our homes.
I live in Winter Gardens, California, an eastern
suburb of San Diego, with Jim Frimmer, a
professional pianist and my husband since
1994, and Olivia, our black & white cat adopted
from the El Cajon, California, animal shelter.
