Mary Ann grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After raising four children in New Jersey, she moved with her husband, Paul, to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Retirement from hospital nursing brought two more moves—first to Delaware, 20 minutes from the ocean and closer to their 10 grandchildren. Ten years later, they settled in Rhode Island, near the beaches which held nostalgic memories of their annual family vacations. And it's here that her third book of humorous essay collections is in progress.
She had articles published in nursing magazines during her tenure as an RN in acute care hospitals. Her interest in writing humor emerged after devouring the works of Erma Bombeck, whose funny stories kept her from curling into a fetal position as a young mother with four kids and a cat; and Nora Ephron, who got her through the indignities of aging with her book, I Feel Bad About My Neck.
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Mary Ann finds humor in all life's situations, both good and bad, including during the pandemic. With a mixture of satire and sentiment, her books will coax a laugh, a smile (and maybe a tear or two) from even the most serious reader, who will identify with many, if not all of her stories. She wants her readers to know that humor is a wonderful God-given coping mechanism worth nurturing.
She's had essays published in the magazine, Delaware Beach Life, and the American Journal of Nursing's blog, "Off the Charts." She belongs to the Rehoboth Beach Writers' Guild and the Association of Rhode Island Authors. Hashtags and Zoom Bewilder this Boomer was awarded 1st Place by the Delaware Press Association's 2021 contest in the category of "adult nonfiction book-humor." It was also awarded Honorable Mention in the same category by the National Federation of Press Women in their 2021 national communication contest.
