Then…

Now…

2018

Name: Jeanne Burrows-Johnson

Spouse/Partner: John Burrows-Johnson

Children: Several wonderful kitties have shared our home, and combined, have led to the character of tortoiseshell Miss Una, the animal companion of Natalie Seachrist.

Occupation: Author

Favorite Pastimes: Reading and watching mysteries. Playing Mahjong. Sampling cuisine prepared by others.

Highlights of My Life Since High School:
After graduating from Wilson, I performed in productions with the Portland Civic Theatre and Mark Allen Players and continued competing in Scottish Highland Dancing. In 1972, I moved with my cat to Honolulu. There I taught and promoted performing arts programs and helped run Highland Games. In 1974 I became a member of the Highland Division of the British Association of Teachers Dancing. In 1975, I married my husband John. Except for when he was a teacher at the Naval Education and Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, we were fortunate to spend his naval career on the island of O`ahu. During courses at Windward Community College, I rediscovered my love of history. After earning an AA in Liberal Arts, I received my BA in history at the University of Hawai`i, where I then took graduate courses in American and Asian history while a graduate teaching assistant in the World Civilizations program.

I began my career as a writer, with a series of articles on non-profits for Newport This Week. I then opened what is now ImaginingsWordpower.com, a marketing firm. Along the way, I conducted oral history interviews, co-authored an article on euthanasia for the Hawai`i Medical Journal, and one on marketing insurance for Broker World. John and I moved to Tucson, Arizona, in 1995. Here I continued my work in marketing, periodically providing speeches and seminars on business and non-profit promotion. I also wrote occasional historical articles and one on a young woman’s search for her brother for The Rotarian.  Eventually the historical pieces led to the anthology, Under Sonoran Skies, Prose and Poetry from the High Desert. After several years, the Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian mystery series was born.