Suzy was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956. The family was transferred to El Paso, Texas in 1957. Julie was born in 1958. Her dad, Jim was an engineer (she always thought he worked on a train!) with Standard Oil Company; her mother, Jane was an elementary school teacher at Eastwood Knolls, and continues to be the quintessential master of cursive handwriting.
Suzy lived an idyllic life on the dead-end, gravel road at 480 Butchofsky Street where she rode her bike, played outside with her friends and took care of her pets: BoPeep the lamb, Taco the donkey, the cats, Iddy Biddy and Snowball, and Petey the parakeet. It was 1964 at Marian Manor Elementary School in Mrs. Sewell’s 3rd grade class where these stories were imagined.
In 1966, Suzy’s notebooks and her childhood treasures began a 50-year odyssey in a moving box from El Paso,Texas to Bountiful, Utah to Omaha, Nebraska before finally re-emerging in Phoenix, Arizona in 2013.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Her mom retired from teaching after 42 years in 1996 and still lives in Utah with Julie, her husband Mike and their two kids Sara and Alex. Suzy’s dad passed away in 1996, but would surely have gotten a kick out of this book! BoPeep provided lots of wool for blankets and coats, Taco was donated to Fort Bliss in El Paso, and became their mascot (renamed Hank), Biddy and Snowball retired in Utah and Petey went to the big bird cage in the sky and Mrs. Sewell had many wonderful teaching years. Suzy has two kids: Portia who lives in Phoenix with her husband Dillon and their dog Olive Bean, and Jordan, who lives the dream in NYC. Suzy resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband Jeff and two cats, John and Yoko.