After high school graduation I attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I married Bob Boik in 1968, we were married for 8 years and had a son, Tony, and a daughter, Tracy. I spent my career working as a purchasing agent and contracting officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs at various locations around the United States (Waco TX, Long Beach CA, St. Louis MO, Denver CO, Minneapolis MN). I met Patrick “Jerry” Kelly at the VA Hospital in Long Beach CA and we have been married for 39 years. My hobbies and interests include traveling, playing piano and guitar, going for walks with my dog, Shazi, and scrapbooking. I’ve also developed an interest in family history and genealogy and have traced my ancestors back to Sweden (97% Scandinavian confirmed by AncestoryDNA). I’ve even located some third cousins in Sweden and have traveled to Sweden to visit them. So far I’ve been lucky enough to have good health, for which I am very grateful. I enjoy getting together with family and friends and especially spending time with my grandchildren.

I read a statement in a book by Alexander McCall Smith a while back about old friends, and the truth of it really struck me, this is how I feel about some very special friends in my life that I may not see as often as I’d like, but when we get together it is like no time has passed, the bonds are still there. I’d like to share that quote with you because I know we can all identify with it. Old Friends: “You can go through life and make new friends every year, every month practically, but there are never any substitutes for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel.”