The San Juan Islands have been my home since 1974. A grandmother of seven, a mother of four, this is the place I raised my children. Over the years I have worked in boat yards, restaurants, vacation rentals, gardens, and house building industries. Been a baker, a painter, a driver, a maid. Whatever it took to make ends meet. I have often had three jobs at a time. 

I am an artist and a musician, loving to share my talents. Throughout the years I have instructed and created public art murals in tile or beach rock mosaic with children from all over the islands. Teaching and volunteering whenever I can. Since the year 2000 I have coordinated the ‘Music at the Port of Friday Harbor,’ where our local and regional talented bands come and play at the waterfront park every weekend in the summer. An average of ten bands a year to showcase, I am honored and privileged to be able to put these shows together. 

I have been caregiving for the elderly since 2011. This is a great need on our islands. Housing here at one time was easy to find. As the years go by, the world has discovered our islands as vacation capitol. Many moderate low-income property and rentals have been snatched up into the vacation rental business. Rentals are scarce. Through the San Juan Community Home Trust, a group of dedicated people recognized our local hard working community needed help finding affordable housing. I have been one of the fortunate people to become a homeowner through the great efforts of these folks who began our CLT on San Juan Island, The Home Trust. 

I purchased my home in Sunrise Community in 2012. I became a Home Trust Board Member in 2013. Through a grant from CCHD I was part of the group that traveled to the NWCLT regional conference in Montana. I later became an ambassador for representing our Home Trust with other CLT’s across the nation, going to Washington D.C. in 2015 with a group of six Ambassadors from all around the country. Since then, I have been at many conferences to learn about Community Land Trusts. Kentucky, Utah, Los Angeles, and Oakland are all struggling with the same situations, homes for lower income people. There is great work being done by organizations finding solutions to these problems with incredible ingenuity and dedication. I am fortunate to be a part of this noble effort once again.