"I grew up on the southside
of Chicago ..."

I am the eldest of four children: two girls and two boys. Two of my siblings have passed away – a brother and sister – the middle ones. My youngest brother lives in Hawaii.

I grew up on the southside of Chicago, Illinois. My father worked as a member of a riveting group who riveted together steel parts to make Pullman cars for Pullman Car Mfg. Co. My mother was a stay at home mom who had been an elementary school teacher in St. Louis, Mo. My father was born in Alton, Illinois and my mother was born in St. Louis, Missouri. They met and married in the Chicago, Illinois area.

We had a middle class life and my father earned good money when he worked. However, there would be times when Pullman did not have contracts with railroads for Pullman cars and there was no work for their workers. Although, my parents would save for these times, their savings would not be enough. As a result, we would have to give up our apartment and move in with my grandmother until my father got his job back or another job, sometimes at General American Car Mfg. Co. Consequently, we lived in several neighborhoods on the southside of Chicago and I attended several different schools.

I graduated from Wendell Phillips High School as valedictorian and went to the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. I had been working at a supermarket and saved money for college; however, the money that I had saved lasted only one semester. I came home after my first semester, went back to work and attended Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago.

I had enjoyed bookkeeping in high school so I majored in accounting in college. Prior to getting my Bachelors Degree, I was hired as Chief Accountant at Roosevelt University.

I met Donald L. Crumble just before my graduation from Roosevelt University and we were married ten months later. He was an accountant in public practice. We had three daughters and lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Sceaux, France. The marriage ended in France and I came home and went back to work. I later went back to school for a Masters Degree and CPA Certification.

Several years later I met and married Burrell F. Berry; however, this marriage lasted only two years.