Hello! My name is Jean, and I graduated from NC State with a degree in secondary English education and taught in the Wake County Public School system for 5 years before returning to NC State to work on my masters. While there, I taught freshman English for two years. I then worked for The News & Observer in the Newspapers in Education department for the next 27 years. I retired in 2010 to become a granny nanny for my daughter's boy/girl newborn twins. Thinking I would be keeping two babies, I got a big surprise when their little brother Jack was born a year and a week later. I've been keeping them ever since, first full-time, then once they were in school, after school and during the summers. I also help my son and his wife with their three little ones whenever I can.

I've been involved in the NC Reading Association since the mid 1980s, first with the Raleigh/Wake Council, and then as an officer in the state association. I served as NCRA president from 2006-07 and have been working as the Executive Assistant since 2007. In that role, I am responsible for planning the yearly conference. I spend my spare time reading, gardening, watching my grandsons' baseball games, and traveling.