Be was not always a potter -- In the beginning, she was a wife and mother, with house, husband and three children to care for. But when the children were in their teens, it happened that Be and her husband divorced. Suddenly she was on her own, with a family to support. What to do? Be went back to school and earned a master's degree in social work, and then followed a career as a family counselor. She helped her children complete their education, set out on their own. Her life was very full of work and family.

Then, in 1988 a close friend took up potting as therapy -- as a stress reducer. Be watched over his shoulder, fascinated. She gave it a try and loved the craft from her very first pot. It was, indeed, a stress reducer, pounding the clay against the wedging plaster, pressing it into the wheel, centering ... She bought a wheel and a kiln and began making pots of her own whenever she could find the time. Gradually her craft progressed and became an art. When Be retired from family counseling, she did two things: she began teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) and took up potting in earnest. At first, she gave her pots as gifts to family and friends. But soon, her production became even more prolific. Friends suggested that she sell her pots and she began placing them in shows and crafts shops.

Soon she needed more space. With the help of her son, a teacher of cabinetry who had the summer free, she built an addition to her farmhouse. It was a summer of hard labor that went on through the winter and into the next spring. It was taxing, both physically and fiscally. Would she ever finish the addition? Where would she find the strength to hoist the heavy boards, to wield a hammer on a high ladder? Where would the money come from? She found the strength, she found the money. It was finally finished; a beautiful space, light and airy. The ground floor is her working studio, with wheel and kilns and glazing area, and upstairs, a showroom for her finished pots.

Be takes pleasure in many things. As she watches her children, now adults, blossom in their marriages and careers. In her five beautiful young grand daughters. In the triumphs of her ESL students. And in her pots -- as she lifts them from the kiln and knows that they are good and beautiful and strong and will enhance the lives of those they touch. Just as Be herself strives to do.