This is a "works in progress", so check back for updates!
I was born in 1959 in Frederick, Maryland. When I was 6 months old my parents and I moved to Panama where my father had a government contract. We stayed there for only 6 months because my mother grew very homesick. I mostly grew up in Middletown, Maryland with my parents,Nadia -
Don - 
my two brothers and my sister. I am the oldest. My brother Frank, was born in 1960, my sister,
Donna -
was born in 1962, and my brother David was born in 1975!
I graduated from Middletown High School in 1977. While growing up I was always involved in music, having begun playing piano at the age of 6. My mother was (and still is!) an avid piano player and would always engage me and my siblings in gathering around the piano and singing! As I grew I became involved in school music activities. I was in the chorus programs in jr. high and high school, played french horn in the band from 8th grade until graduation, and also accompanied the choral groups in high school. I attended Western Maryland College (now renamed McDaniel College) in Westminster, Maryland where I graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in Music Education with Departmental Honors in Music. I double majored in piano and voice. I was active in the College Concert Choir (of which I served as librarian), Choristers, and Concert Band (in which I continued playing french horn). My "claim to fame" while there was being interviewed on a Baltimore News Program for a fundraiser the choir did on Valentine's Day in the form of delivering singing telegrams for people in small ensembles. I was so sick, however, with a flu-type illness that all I wanted to do was get out of the studio! I went on to earn a M.S. in curriculum and Instruction at the same college. It took me awhile (9 years!) due to having children and working full time, but I finally graduated in 1991. After college I worked several jobs for one year while awaiting for music openings to occur. I was hired in 1982 as a part time general music teacher at Middletown Middle School - in the town where I grew up! Many of the teachers there were teachers whom had taught me - how weird! I eventually moved on as the head of the piano department at Governor Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick where some of my colleagues still teach. The program grew under my direction. In addition, I taught chorus, music theory and guitar. I was also part of the Visual and Performing Arts Faculty in the same school where I taught college-level piano to students who were preparing to major in music in college. These students auditioned to get into our program from all over the county. I taught in this school for 10 years. My position was eliminated due to funding cuts in the arts programs. My community activities back east involved being active in various organizations. My biggest accomplishment for the community in which I lived was the founding of a children's music camp at a local church which operated on a sliding fee scale. I staffed 25 volunteers and we enrolled over 100 campers each year. The camp still exists today. I moved to the Seattle, Washington area in February of 1997 where I taught 5th, 6th and 7th grade choir and general music at two intermediate schools. It was a temporary position, so I was not there very long. I moved to West Jordan, Utah, that summer and while awaiting interviews for music positions I worked at various jobs, including substitute teaching and teaching in private schools. I decided to become licensed in Special Education through Utah State University during the 1999-2000 school year while working as a Resource Teacher in the Granite School District. After two years in that position, I received the offer to teach music at aMiddle School in the Jordan School District. I reside in West Jordan, Utah with my husband Tom King. We were married in our back yard,
in a tye-dye wedding,under a 100-year-old cottonwood tree on October 28, 2001.Tom
Here our children:
Emily - 
Greg - 
Brian
Greg, Emily, Brian
We have a blue heeler dog name Star, a pekingnese dog (our son's) named Sokrateez, and an orange tabby cat named Simba.
We have a cute little home with lots of ground for heavy-duty organic gardening. We also have a greenhouse on our property. Tom cultivates many species of orchids as well as hundreds of other types of plants. We grow and cultivate everything organically.
I am currently the music and itinerant special education math support specialist at a public charter school, City Academy. I also teach the yearbook and web design class and am currently seeking an endorsement in multi-media in the state of Utah.You can view my curriculum vitae at Resume Tom is a master electrician with a local traffic control engineering company. He has been assigned the task of developing the company's electrical division. We are active in Salt Lake City with People for Peace and Justice of Utah. I am also active as a participant with the local radical cheerleading squad, Pom Poms Not Bomb Bombs, which performs at activist functions and demonstrations. We are also active with Utah Independent Media, part of the International Independent Media network. We write features and newswire articles for Utah IMC. In addition, we are very active with the Green Party of Utah. I am one of the two state Co-Coordinators of the state party. We help to maintain websites for all of these organizations. In my spare time I love to compose music and practice with Tom. We have a band called
Organick Khemistry. I play keyboard and flute and Tom plays viola and 7-string electric violin. We play primarily at rest homes and care centers. We went on tour in summer 2001 and played at rest homes all over the country! We like to attend concerts of our favorite folk musicians whenever we can and love to "jam" with our friends.
In 2001 Tom and I formed Blue Sky Institute, a non-profit educational organization. We wrote and developed a music curriculum where we taught adolescents traditional folk songs and prepared a show that was presented at several area rest homes and care centers. We hope to continue offering this program as the opportunities arise.
In our leisure time, Tom and I love to hike the Wasatch Mountains, as well as many other beautiful mountain ranges.
We also like to primitive camp. In the spring and fall we spend all of our free time hunting for edible mushrooms. We usually can gather enough for the winter - quite a task for a drought-ridden state! We also love rockhounding and have a house full of various types of Utah rocks, including topaz and geodes, that we have collected over the years. During the summer, of my 44th birthday, my request was to go on a backpacking camping trip (as opposed to car camping). I had never been backpacking in my life! Tom gave me a real "breaking in" to this as we hiked 5 miles into (and up!) Bell's Canyon in the Wasatch Front, a steep, rocky, extremely difficult hike - especially when carrying 30-40 pounds on your back! The result was that I got addicted to backpacking and have since been on two more such trips (although on easier terrain!) in the beautfiul southern Utah wilderness.
Of course we love going back east to visit my family. We make two trips per year -summer and Christmas! Dad, Dee, Tom, Mom,and Emily
Summer, 2004 HOME