Almost a lifetime resident of Virginia, she was born in West Virginia and moved at the age of four. She still saw a lot of the U.S. traveling for her work and has been to Europe on vacations. She was a working mother while building a career with the federal government, and loved both positions. With federal workforce changes after Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, she became a spokesperson for women and it became a lifetime interest. She and her second husband, Bill Hansell, met on the job and when retired, moved from northern Virginia to make their home in a rural area near Williamsburg. She realized she had been writing all her life and enjoyed it, but had been mostly technical in nature. Feeling her Christian faith is always guiding her, she is writing in her retirement years by combining her faith, love of history, and as an advocate for women. She and Bill combined their families of her son and his three daughters and now have one grandson and three granddaughters. A member of the Williamsburg United Methodist Church, she is also on the Board of Directors for the College of William and Mary Wesley Foundation.