December 18- Christmas Stories

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Nan Clinton is the second child, oldest daughter, of seven siblings. She attended elementary through graduate programs in Catholic schools. Throughout her career as a Montessori teacher, high school teacher, and school administrator, she has many stories to tell that are playful, hilarious, and entertaining. 

Along with the whimsical side, and life experiences they are both sad and wise. Nan believes that storytelling is the bond that reconnects…stories convey the humanness in all of us.

Amy Curtis was an early participant in the Inspired! live lit storytelling classes and told her first story in 2019. She believes stories express our common humanity and connect us to one another. Amy paints, feeds her backyard birds, is curious about almost everything and enjoys a good book and a good cup coffee above most all other things.

She is a local real estate agent and a Lockport resident.

Barbara Eberhard is the producer and host of STORIES R Us. She taught photography at the University of St. Francis and was staff photographer at the Philip Lynch Theatre for over 30 years She was the director of the children’s theatre Eberhard and Friends. Barbara is a member of artitude and Chicago 

Society of Artists.You can view her work at barbaraeberhard.com

Meredith Morris has a background in journalism and public relations. She is currently a family advocate in senior living and working toward certification as a death doula. Meredith lives in Lockport with her husband, Don, and cat. She is grateful to Stories R Us for bringing out her inner storyteller. While she loves to learn, meet new people and try new things, it’s guidance and deadlines of Barbara and friends that help her put experiences into words.

Mary Parkhurst is from the southside of Chicago(Beverly). She taught English at Carl Sandburg H.S. then the sister school, Andrew H.S., finally deciding to go to dental school after helping her brother set up his practice, graduating at age 34. Married almost 45 years, mother of 3, grandma mere to 2, she finally retired in 2021 after a nasty bout w/ Covid. s

She is always amazed to discover how much there is to enjoy though she'd been told often that it was so.

Karen Scott moved to Lockport in March 2023 after having lived in Maryland for almost 30 years, where she worked in Washington DC for the US Environmental Protection Agency as an environmental education specialist. Karen has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in adult education. She worked in education her whole career, starting in elementary education in public schools and the US Peace Corps, and then transitioning to adult education for the US Army, and in evening schools, community colleges, and workplace literacy programs. She is now retired and lives with 3 cats near her son and daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren, which has been delightful, but she misses her daughter in Baltimore. Karen loves to travel and got to see much of the Pacific and SE Asia in the 1970s during and after her two years in the Peace Corps. She also had the privilege of traveling throughout a great deal of the United States while working for the EPA and the Army. She hopes to do more traveling now that she’s settled in her new home.

Katie Ward began telling stories in 2019 with Art Inspired Live Lit classes in Lockport. She loves telling and hearing others’ stories and felt that she had found her tribe when she met others who seemed to feel that same way.  Katie has lived long enough to retire from two careers, one as a teacher of hearing impaired students and another as a choreographer & teacher of children’s dance.  Those experiences as well as those of an early member of the Boomer generation seem to have provided her with ample material to mine for stories.