From biology teacher to community relations to painter...

 Allie discovered her interest in art and her ability “to draw” in childhood when her second grade teacher, Mrs. Graziano, chose her to draw the horses for the circus parade that the class was creating for a school corridor.  And the rest, as they say, is history!
 
Trained as a biology teacher, she taught for several years in  high schools, but life allowed little time to think about her favorite avocations: drawing and painting.  When she became a stay-at-home mom, painting and pen and ink drawing, self taught as they were, proved a tremendously enjoyed outlet, punctuated with an occasional Adult Ed evening course to learn and create with others.
 
A second career after the children were launched, again took too much of her time and energy for much artistic expression, but realizing that retirement was looming on the horizon, and with it more discretionary time, Allie began to take classes at a local community college where she completed a degree in studio art while enjoying every moment of classes and homework squeezed into a busy career schedule.
 
Allie and her husband retired to North Carolina where, finally, she makes time to explore her artistic voice and creative nature in support of clean water wells in third world countries.