April 18, 1930
On Good Friday at noon, I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and lived there 24 years, with the exception of a few “little girl” years spent in Houston, Texas.
1937 – 1947
I attended St. Vincent’s Academy, elementary through high school, in Shreveport where classes were coeducational through 6th grade and segregated from 7th through senior year. “Lovely Ladies” was to be our goal we were told by the nuns who taught us!
1947 – 1950
The changes that came when I left Shreveport to attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge were more like a fantasy than a reality! World War II had ended, and enrollment expanded to
include those who were at LSU on the GI Bill. One of those GIs was Y. A. Tittle, the Tiger’s famous quarterback. These were also times of “States Rights Dixiecrats,” panty raids, and skirts that dropped from an inch above the knee to about eight inches below almost overnight.
I registered as a Business major, but after one semester I realized that Art was really my passion. I will never regret making the decision to move into Art. However, many exciting and unexpected events beyond studies overwhelmed my life during those two years at LSU.
It was an amazing two years that left me in a state of pleasant exhaustion and gratitude for all of the special people who had beena part of my life. But I was ready to move on.
1951 – 1955
At age 21, I married George Patrick Slattery and became a traditional wife and mother of two little boys 15 months apart: Patrick and Kevin. How sweet life was!
1955 – 1969
Reluctantly, I left Shreveport with my husband and two baby boys to spend the next 24 years in “The City That Care Forgot,” but the city I will always remember: New Orleans. Inspired by the landscape, I returned to art in the mid-60s.
We were living the mirth of Mardi Gras and accepting the tribulations of Ash Wednesday. Those were the years that gave birth to many of my narratives and poems.
By 1969, there had been more Ash Wednesdays than ever expected: George had his first heart attack a year-and-a-half after we had become surrogate parents to Bobby and Billy Parks, the two youngest sons of George’s sister and her husband, following their untimely deaths.
1970 – 1978
The next year I received a request to initiate an art course at the school our boys attended, De La Salle High School in New Orleans with an all male faculty and students. A major requirement was a return to college to complete my education.
Much to my surprise, I loved being a student, and I loved teaching! In March of 1975, two months before my long anticipated graduation, George died. More determined than ever to continue my education, I applied for graduate school at Tulane University and completed studies for the MAT in Art Education in December, 1977.
1978 – 2004
Life took another unexpected turn in the summer of 1978. I remarried and with my husband, John Burke, settled into the 
beautiful, dry desert of Scottsdale, Arizona. I moved from the swamps and alligators to the waterless river beds and Gila monsters to live and grow for the next 26 years. I began painting a different kind of landscape.
During those years, I taught Interior Design Studio in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University in Tempe, worked in commercial interior design, and spent many 
satisfying hours of pro-bono work on restoration of “The Old Church,” a National Historic Landmark on the campus of the ASU Catholic Student Center. In 1989, I received Honorable Mention at the Tempe Beautification Award ceremony for the church courtyard design.
Upon retirement at age 65, I began a new career in writing that has grown stronger with our move to Austin, Texas in December of 2004.
2004 – to present
Many workshops, classes, group critiques, and conferences later I began to compile and revise my stories and poetry. My first book, Women and Pedagogy: Education Through Autobiographical Narrative, was published in April of 2009 by Educator’s International Press, Troy, NY.
I continue to write.
Professor, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Education
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
MAT – Art Education, 1977
Member, Kappa Delta Pi – Honor Society in Education
St. Mary’s Dominican College
New Orleans, Louisiana
BA, 1974
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
1947 – 1949
St. Vincent’s Academy and High School Shreveport, Louisiana
1937 – 1947