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. I had 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.
I graduated from Henrietta M. King High in Kingsville, Texas, in May 1973, and Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, in December 1978.

I grew up in a musical family, starting piano lessons under my mother when I was 2, violin lessons in first grade in Brigham City, Utah, and voice in seventh grade in Kingsville, Texas. Violin was my favorite, but I quit all three when I moved to San Diego, California, in April 1993 and became a “beach bum.”

I earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Texas A&M University but never enjoyed a job in the forestry industry. My business career has involved working or owning businesses in many industries, including, among others, grocery export, antique restoration, roofing, landscaping, international & wireless telecommunications (15 years apart), heating & cooling, computer sales, writing & editing, typing & desktop publishing, construction, real estate agent, real estate investing & renovating, project management, business consultant, home inspector, and photographer. I now can add published author to that list.

Russel Ray Photos is my company that manages the many 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 specialize plant containers specifically meant to showcase air plants, Tillandsias, and to help those plants grow in the low-humidity environs of our homes.

I live in Winter Gardens, California, a suburb of San Diego, with Jim Frimmer, my husband since 1994 and a professional pianist, and Olivia, our black & white cat adopted from the El Cajon, California, animal shelter.