Carol is the oldest of six children, raised on farm in Otsego, Michigan. She learned to drive a tractor before she ever drove a car. The saying must be true that “You can take a girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl”, because she drew on her love of horses and animals for her illustrations for “Summer of the Bear” and “Eagle from the Dawn”. Carol is new to book illustrating, but loving it!

Carol is a Christian with three years at Cornerstone College in Grand Rapids, where she paid for part of her education by selling encyclopedias door-to-door for two summers. She finished her BA in Communications and Art, with Secondary Teaching Certification at Western Michigan University and has taken graduate courses in Counseling. She has directed a Learning Center and taught six years at Christian schools where five to six preps a day was normal. She has taught at Faith Christian in Mattawan, Otsego Baptist Academy and First Assembly Christian in Portage. She has also taught a Teen Sunday School for five years, directed Church Drama for five years, taught ladies Bible study, led youth group and junior church. She was PTA Newsletter Chairman for Woods Lake Elementary School. Presently, she is a Board member and Marketing/Community Relations Chairman for LOVE In the Name of Christ of Kalamazoo County.

When teaching positions weren’t available, Carol found that her skills in Communication and Art transferred to Kitchen Design and sales. She has seven years experience in that field, with three in management. She was a layout and graphic artist for the Rural Bible Mission, had a Sign Shop, worked in sales, and has done graphic art out of her home. She illustrated a series of flashcards for Faith Venture Visuals that were sold in bookstores. She illustrated a poem by her sister, Shirley Foster, turning it into a Coloring Book, and the Allegan County Resource Recovery distributed “Recyclosourus” to all Allegan County K-3 students in 1994.

She is the proud mother of three wonderful grown boys, who have brought two magnificent daughter-in-laws into the family…and three gorgeous grandchildren. She has photos that she will gladly show to prove this last claim.

Contact: Cmartin4art@aol.com with inquiries.