About Charlotte
Surrounded by woods, streams, rock-outcroppings and older brothers, my childhood was gloriously spent tramping along trails, clambering up trees and rocks, learning to swim in a pond alongside tadpoles (with curiously developing legs and shrinking tails), digging for worms to fish with Daddy, and spending summer nights in competition to see who could catch the greatest number of “lightnin’ bugs.” Being nurtured with that kind of immersion in nature spawns an affinity, sensitivity, curiosity, and love for the natural world.
Childhood on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee could not have been more splendid. Between our mother, a gardener, who would not allow us to hang-out indoors, and our father, who identified birds and trees and took us hiking and fishing, we had the great fortune of developing an innate relationship and connected-ness to the natural world. When life became chaotic, there was always a special place for refuge in the woods or up a tree. Being outdoors was synonymous with freedom, belonging, inspiration and peace.
It was a natural progression for me to choose a small liberal arts college in Vermont surrounded by woods, hills, cow pastures and great skiing. After Middlebury College, I married and raised two boys on a tiny farm in Dover, Massachusetts, where we had horses, chickens, cats, dogs, gardens and a fabulous compost pile. Our lives were intimately bound with nature, the weather and the seasons.
My parents had also instilled in me the importance of being involved in the community and serving on non-profit boards, which I started doing in my early twenties. Over the years I served on the boards of numerous organizations–schools, churches, adaptive sports programs for disabled athletes, neighborhood associations, recycling programs, tourism commissions, and environmental conservation organizations. I served as Chairman of the Board of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and chaired its first Capital Campaign. Currently I’m serving on the non-profit boards of TNC-MT (The Nature Conservancy of Montana) and MPA (Montana Preservation Alliance).
I have master’s degrees in Environmental Studies and Special Education. In 1997, I received a grant in Dover, Massachusetts to teach K-6th graders an ecology curriculum that I created, Environmental Sleuths and Decision Makers. I am a member of The North American Nature Photographer’s Association, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and The North American Butterfly Association.
After living in New England for 28 years, we moved to Charleston, SC. My husband and I have four sons and four granddaughters. We divide our time between Charleston, SC and our working ranch in Clyde Park, Montana.
