Anna Lee Waldo was born February 16, 1925, in Great Falls, Montana, and grew up in Whitefish.
[1] She claims her interest in the subject of Native Americans began as a child when she collected spear points on the shores of Whitefish Lake in Montana and listened to stories of Blackfeet and Crow grandmothers.
She attended the University of Maryland gaining a master's degree in organic chemistry, where she also met her future husband, Willis H. Waldo, a fellow chemist.
[3] It took Waldo ten years to write and research Sacajawea, a 1300+ page book, finally publishing it in 1978.
This led to her second novel, Prairie, and finally to her Druid Circle series about a Welsh prince and his travel to North America in the 12th Century.