I grew up in Cherokee, Iowa, and was surrounded by music my entire life. My grandmother was a long-time piano teacher and organist in our community. My parents, siblings and I followed suit by being involved in choir, band, symphony, community theatre productions, and church music from a very young age. (Fun fact: there are four generations of all-state musicians in my family totaling 38 years of participation in the festival.)

I attended Iowa State University receiving my Bachelor of Music in 1989 and began teaching vocal music that fall in Manly, Iowa. After my husband (Randy) and I were married, we moved to Audubon and then to Le Mars as we continued our careers in music education. During that time, I was actively involved in the American Choral Director’s Association both at the district and state levels and attended the University of South Dakota to receive my master’s degree in Voice and Music Education in 2003. After 33 years in public education, I retired from teaching in 2022.

We moved to Ames after retirement to be closer to our beloved alma mater AND (more importantly) our wonderful children, Katelyn (Layton) Elscott and Karter (Brooke). We brought with us our miniature golden doodle Koko. Grateful to continue sharing my musical gifts, I’m currently working with the Ames Children’s Choir, I have opened a private voice studio out of our home, I continue to be involved in ACDA as a clinician, director, and mentor to new music educators in the state of Iowa.

I feel blessed that God has called us to our new church family and look forward to joining with Bethesda’s many gifted members as we “Make A Joyful Sound”.