About the Author

Taking on the World, One City at a Time

  

(excerpt from the Library Committe & Natual Resources Group)

  

Phel Jacobsen wrote I Married a Park Ranger and Became a Park Wife to speak for the wife, the volunteer, the “park wife” who dedicates years of her life to the betterment of the family, the National Park Service and nearby communities. In 1953, when she set out for the remote forests of Isle Royale National Park on husband Bob’s first assignment, she had no conception of the duties above and beyond the usual household chores that came with being a park wife. In the days and years ahead, she mastered the skills of living on the edge of wilderness in Hawaii Volcanoes, Sequola and Olympics Parks as well as living in urban settings like Chalmette Historical Park.

  

She became a social catalyst in a wide range of locales. An astute observer, she makes incisive remarks on such varied topics as New Orleans Mardi Gras society, the Latter-Day-Saints bishops in Nevada and the challenges of living on a GS-12 salary in the Washington, DC, suburbs. As her husband assumed key duties in the NPS in the 1970s, she became the buffer with the demanding wives of his bosses. The Jacobsens longed to return to the field and were delighted when Bob became superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, a post he held until his retirement in 1987.

  

Phel was awarded 2nd place in the Non-Fiction category of the 2018 Blue Ridge Writers Chapter Level Golden Nib for her work in her title Jury Duty

  

Phel now continues…