[2] She is a graduate of Keuka College, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and Central Michigan University.

Her husband, Robert, is also a former United States Army chaplain, who reached the rank of colonel.

She sent a letter to the Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force at the time, Roy M. Terry.

As was she the first female chaplain to reach that rank, then-Air Force Chief of Staff Merrill McPeak organized a special ceremony at The Pentagon to commemorate the occasion.

In 2001, she was promoted to Chief of Chaplains with the rank of major general and held that position until her retirement in 2004.