About Me
Becoming an Author
In 2012, I completed Room 732, my debut collection of short stories based on the Hollywood Beach Hotel. Ever since 1984, with each walk I took along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, I thought about writing this book. I never lost sight of that goal and finally cleared the space to sit down and make it happen.
After twenty years of working on my legacy journal project, I published Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. I. —a legacy journal for this and future generations. Vol. II was published on June 20, 2023, and is a #1 release in Holocaust biographies and Jewish biographies on Amazon. In reading through 359 of my journals, I came to understand the value and impact of journaling as well as the importance of sharing the essence of who I am. I do so in the hopes that readers will look at my life as a mirror into their own. My ultimate goal is to help people understand that how we live our lives becomes our legacy.
Beginnings
While Cleveland, Ohio was my hometown, my husband (who was my high school sweetheart) and I moved to South Florida in 1972. We raised our daughter and son in this tropical paradise and never looked back.
It didn’t take me long to fall in love with the ocean and, in particular, with Hollywood Beach. For many years, one could find me writing under “my” palm tree on the sand opposite Seawind Apartments. Now, I’m part of the early morning gang walking along the Broadwalk and taking photos as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean. You’ll see some of them here on my website.
My dream has come true as I have combined my writing, teaching, speaking and volunteering-–touching lives and connecting with others.
Career Experiences
When our son was three years old, I went back into education and had a wonderful career: a preschool teacher, the director of a preschool, the director of a summer day camp with 350 campers, an administrative assistant in a private high school, the educational consultant for the Anne Frank in the World: 1929 – 1945 photographic exhibition, and finally the director of educational outreach at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Hollywood, Florida, my position for twenty-six years.
Legacy of Remembrance
The focus of my work at the Holocaust Center was to help Holocaust survivors pass along their life stories-–their Legacy of Remembrance–-to this and future generations. After retiring from the Center in December 2011, I developed a course entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy® and began teaching it in October of 2012. I have since taught 72 classes and speak on the subject of legacy to a wide range of audiences locally, nationally, and internationally.