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"There's a frood who really knows where [her] towel is!"
—Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, s.v. "Towel"

"...I never travel without my towel."
—Amahl and the Space Visitors

Nora was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, grew up in New Orleans, and finished high school in Avinger, Texas (a tiny town in northeast Texas).

She received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, with a major in Music Theory and Composition, and elective studies equivalent to a minor in Computer Science. She stayed around and received a Master of Music degree from Hardin-Simmons, also in Music Theory and Composition. Then she wandered over to Florida State University, where she became a doctoral student at the School of Music (now College of Music), studying Music Theory, with electives related to computing and cognitive science.

After finishing coursework, but before getting around to those pesky comps (let alone a dissertation!), she got a job in the Office of Budget and Analysis at FSU. As Coordinator of Budgeting, her primary responsibility for many years was for the University's salary budget. She represented the Office on the OMNI project team (also known as Project AIM and the Enterprise Resource Planning department), implementing PeopleSoft (now part of Oracle Corp.) at FSU. She has remained to provide on-going support, with primary responsibilties involving Commitment Control. Her job has inspired her to write PeoplePoems. In order to get something on her resume other than a music degree, she returned to school part-time and completed the Master of Science degree at the School of Information Studies (now part of the College of Communication and Information) at FSU.

In that former life as a music student, she was made a member of the honor society Alpha Chi, and the music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, an international fraternity for women in music, and was a charter member when the Tallahassee Alumnae Chapter was reinstated. For old times sake, Nora continues to maintain her membership in the Society for Music Theory.

Nora is an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, sometimes sings in the Tallahassee Community Chorus, is a volunteer reader for the Radio Reading Service of WFSU-FM. She has recently taken up kayaking and windsurfing, the latter interest which led her to join the Shell Point Sailboard Club.

For 10 1/2 long years, Nora shared her home in the woods between Tallahassee and the beaches with her elderly mom, who finally moved out to a senior apartment community in Tallahassee, taking one of the cats (Duncan) with her.  Nora still lives with three cats (Nero, Claude, and Tula) and a dog (Jim).