Active in youth issues and community service since I was a teenager, I helped institute the Tri-Cities first crisis line for teens (Dial H-E-L-P) and bring the first CROP Hunger Walk to the Tri-Cities. I represented the interests of young people on a select committee under Gov. Dan Evans as he reconstructed Washington State’s social services into the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). At the age of sixteen, I began working in the accounting office of the car dealership that my father managed. Yet, I also attended Pasco High School full time.

During my first year in college my father’s health began to deteriorate with a relapse of cancer. Friends told me that if I left college I’d never return, but believing that if people don’t come first, the rest is pointless, I decided to return home to be closer to her father during the last years of his life. I have never regretted that decision.

I moved to Spokane in 1978 and my son, Tiernan, was born in 1982. I was a single parent, so when he went to school, I returned to school, myself. I graduated from Eastern Washington University in 1992, the recipient of Eastern Washington University’s President’s Commendation, the Mary Shields Wilson Medallion for Scholarship and Community Service, and an award in Ethics from 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel. That summer, the Mayor and City Council of Spokane awarded me Spokane’s Outstanding Citizenship Award for contributions to the Spokane Community and to City government.

In 1992, I enrolled at Gonzaga University where I completed my Master’s degree in Philosophy and the coursework in their doctoral program in Organizational and Educational Leadership. I deepened my connection to the community even further by purchasing a home in the Northeast District and turned my attention to practical applications of my education by immersing myself in the detailed affairs of City government.

While completing my Master’s degree at Gonzaga, I served as Chief Justice to the Gonzaga Student Body Association’s Judicial Board and was elected “Justice of the Year.” At the same time, I began teaching as an adjunct at Spokane Community College and then accepted a full time position teaching Philosophy, with a focus on Ethics, at Eastern Washington University. I served on two University committees and as a faculty advisor to the Superior Court of the Associated Students of EWU. I helped several students launch their careers, served as the Logan Neighborhood Council Chair, recorded community and local government commentary for radio station KEWU-FM, finished raising my son, and much more.

After September 11th, Tiernan enlisted in the Army. When war was declared on Iraq and since the only living male heir is not required to serve in a war zone, friends asked me why I hadn’t tried to stop his deployment into Iraq. My response was always, “Because someone’s sons and daughters have to go and some of them will die. Our morals aren’t what we say we believe until they’re tough to practice; they’re what we live, even when it’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done.” Fortunately, after five years of service, Tiernan received an honorable discharge, returned to Spokane, and completed his own college degree in Music Technology.

A reorganization of my department at EWU eliminated my teaching position in 2004. Later that year, Gov. Gary Locke appointed me to the Washington State Legislative Ethics Board. I served until 2011, beginning my web design business during that time. It allowed me to stay home most of the time and care for my elderly mother – who lived with me for 14 years until her passing, in May of this year.