Shirley Bigelow DeKelver
 
     
 

Photograph of Shirley Delever

About me

I was born in Calgary, Alberta, and spent the first five years of my life on a farm near Sundre, a small ranching community located in the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Every year, for five years we lost our crops to hail. My father decided to sell the farm. Jobs were scarce so he enlisted in the Canadian Army. We moved often, and I attended many schools during my lifetime. Being tagged as an “army brat” was a badge of honor I wore proudly.

I am the second child of four, and from an early age, would tell stories to my sisters and my brother, often after the lights were out and we were supposed to be in bed sleeping. When I was ten years old, I received my first novel, “Heidi”, and after that I was hooked. When I didn’t have my nose in a book, I would be drawing and painting, and it wasn’t until later in life I discovered I had a passion for photography as well.

I married my high school boyfriend, Don, and we have two wonderful children, Angela and Gregory. I worked as a paralegal in law firms for well over 40 years. My choice of career was never boring as I found it challenging and rewarding.

After my children left home, and as retirement was not far off, I decided it was time to fulfill my dreams. In 2004, I received by correspondence my diploma for Writing for Children and Teenagers from the Institute of Children’s Literature, and in 2006, I received a second diploma, Writing Children’s Books: The Craft and the Market.

In 2007 Don and I moved to the Interior of British Columbia. We live in our “cabin in the woods”, located at White Lake, which has a panoramic view of the lake and the mountains. Our children and grandchildren visit us often, and one of our greatest pleasures is when the wild animals and birds come to visit at our lot.

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  © Shirley Bigelow DeKelver, 2012
Website by Joyce at the Third House