About Nancy and Lila

About Nancy

In 1980 I married my husband, a farmer, and began teaching high school art at Anamosa, Iowa, the birthplace of Grant Wood, painter of the most famous American painting, American Gothic. All of the local, state and national awards I’ve received along the way didn’t matter as much as helping students. And now I want to help you!

Mom to three and grandmother to two, I want to encourage and inspire you to live your best life.

I will tell you about life on a small Iowa family farm or share a heritage recipe that I also illustrate. Here’s a link to what this website is about.

Do I have stuff to tell you!

American Gothic Parody
My face superimposed on American Gothic for my retirement after teaching high school art for 38 years at Anamosa, Grant Wood’s birthplace.

About Lila

There will be essays and poems posted that Lila has written. She was published in Lyrical Iowa and won some 25 Word or Less Contests. (Such as a trip around the world in 1959 and a trip to Paris among other things!) I hope you will enjoy what she gleaned through the years!

Lila was a college graduate at the age of 55 when no one did that. The rest of us already had our degrees, she just wanted it more than all of us. A trail-blazing mother of five.

Lila read a lot! She accumulated many a notebook of “Other People’s Thoughts I’ve Tried to Live By” since 1947. These thoughts were the inspiration for many of her poems and essays.

By the way, Lila is also the source of all of these OLD recipes. She was a recognized by the Pillsbury Bake-Off a million years ago. Pillsbury didn’t know that if Lila is encouraged even a little bit, she goes crazy! And held on to recipes that may encourage a spark. So enjoy the fruits of Lila’s labor!

About Lila
Lila at her 90th birthday party!