In 2015 my brother was murdered. The lady he was with had a gun beside her, well within her reach. She never reached for it and watched as the gunman made sure Alan took two final shots to the head. She did not go for the gun because she did not know how to use it. She had been offered classes an many occasions, but put it off. I could not judge her, because if it was me in her position, I would have frozen just like she did. I had always been around guns, as my husband had a career with Wyoming Game and Fish. I had shot rifle and shotgun a little bit, enough to harvest a buffalo once and a couple birds out of the air, but never even picked up a pistol. My sister has taught NRA Basic Pistol classes for several years and encouraged me to take the classes. Once my eyes were opened to the fact that I was vulnerable and so are most women, I decided to take the instructor courses so I could help the ladies in our area. I have taught several NRA Basic Pistol Classes, Personal Protection in the Home and Refuse to be a Victim classes. We have enjoyed some fun ladies’ organized shoots, but I have wanted for a long time to work out a consistent opportunity for all the women who want to learn and practice on a regular basis. A Girl and A Gun gives us the tools we need to continually learn and practice so we don’t find ourselves defenseless in a time of need.

I grew up in Black Forest, Colorado, (Just North of Colorado Springs). My journey through life took me from Colorado, to Wyoming and back to Colorado. While raising three young kids, I helped manage a successful custom cabinet business for 10 years. For the next 3 years I worked as a volunteer at kids camps, youth camps and as a teacher trainer through Child Evangelism Fellowship. My finance background took me through many positions in the bank, to a Credit Union Vice President for eight years, to being a Mortgage Loan Banker for several years, then on to retirement. Retirement has been fast and fun and I ended up as a volunteer for several good non-profits and about volunteered myself to exhaustion. That taught me that it was important to put my focus where my passion is. My passion is to help girls and women understand how important awareness, self-protections and self esteem are. My goal is to be able to reach women of all ages in our area and help them build the self confidence they need to enjoy guns, not only as self-protection, but as a fun and satisfying sport.