Barbara was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. She had a natural talent for languages and saw her future as a translator to the United Nations. Until her brother convinced her she had to be a nun to do so, as they were the only ones trusted with this job.
Scrapping that career choice, she worked a series of jobs while attending the University of Nebraska that led her to a nun-run care center. Sister Frances, in between telling jokes about “wide mouth frogs,” would try to convert Barbara to the cause. Stating becoming catholic “was but a small step.” Unconvinced that the convent held her future, Barbara found her passion for nursing, and became an RN. After graduating from nursing school, she worked at a brain trauma/stroke rehab center and state-run forensic unit for the mentally ill.
Once again, a co-worker influenced her path. And convinced her that she could see the world, as a nurse in the military. She spent the next 28-years doing exactly that, living in various locations across the United States and Germany. She spent her honeymoon on the Alaska-Canadian Highway and had two children during her first stint in Alaska.
Barbara was always an avid reader. When she came across a copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and The Flower, her love of romance novels began. “There is just something about the journey to a happily ever after. It can be easy-which is boring and unrelatable. Or it can be messy, full of choices and attitudes that influence the path to love.”
Barbara has a BA in Psychology and BS in Nursing from McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, and an MS in Nursing, with a clinical specialty in psychiatric mental health nursing form the University of Southern Illinois at Edwardsville.
She now lives in Florida with her husband of thirty-plus years.