There Was a Moose on Clifford Street

During my life and career, I have always had an emphasis on literature and especially children’s literature because that is where my love lies. I graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education with a minor in library science from Utah State University. I have a masters degree and an administrative degree from Idaho State University. I loved my career. My mind goes back to a time when I was supposed to help with the housework. My mother caught me curled up in a chair reading a really good book. She shook her finger at me and said, ＂You will never amount to a hill of beans until you learn to put your books down and do your work.＂ Later we often laughed about that day because reading and books have been my life’s work. My teaching experience was in first, second, and fourth grade, seventh and eighth grade title one program, elementary librarian, and district reading coordinator. I then became team leader for Idaho State University Teacher Corps. I supervised interns studying to be teachers. I also served as the Blackfoot School District representative with the State of Idaho Right to Read Program. I was elementary principal at three different elementary schools. It was when I was a principal at the kindergarten center in Blackfoot that the idea of this story was born. My granddaughter Hailey came running into the school one morning and said, ＂Grandma, guess what. There was a moose on Clifford Street.＂ I thought, ＂That sounds like the title to a story.＂ Hailey is now thirty-one, so it only took twenty-five years for me to decide to publish it. I also directed the Blackfoot School District Elementary Libraries. I taught a creative writing class at Brigham Young University during the summers for about ten years. I published my story entitled ＂Lambo: Our Pet Bighorn Sheep＂ in the Cricket Magazine, June 1984. I am now retired and I love my retirement. I live in California in the winter and Idaho in the summer. I have four children, fifteen grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren, with more coming. With my family, I love to hold big reunions, travel, attend weddings, and every other excuse to get together. I love my family.