Mary is an Idaho native, born and raised in Boise. She graduated from Boise State University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and from Idaho State University in 1997 with her Master of Science in Nursing. Mary is a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse specialist who works at the VA in the IT department but also facilitates group therapy for combat veterans. She finishes out her day as a provider at a local private mental health clinic.
She also is the project manager for the Veteran’s Affairs bar code expansion project, having implemented this application at the Boise VAMC as the first VA in the nation to go “live”. During the implementation phase, Mary took two of the national trainers from the east coast on a guided motorcycle tour of the Payette River scenic byway as a reward for all of their hard work and help.
In Mary’s previous life she worked in sales, and for a number of years as a personnel specialist and bookkeeper for Sears. She has been involved with a number of volunteer organizations including functioning as the medical director of the annual Homeless Stand Down for the last 5 years.
Mary is a relative newcomer to riding street motorcycles, compared to the rest of the team. Her first experience with motorcycles was on a Huffman scooter in the 1960’s, moving on up to a Honda 90. She took a break from motorcycles to raise her family, but in the 1980’s began riding off-road motorcycles and snowmobiles, introducing her children to the joys of motorized riding. Once her children were grown, Mary ventured out on street bikes, starting with a 1976 Yamaha 400 for a month. She then moved up to a 1985 Honda 500 Shadow (which survived her first ride to Yellowstone). Then on to a 1999 Honda 1100 Shadow that she put 40,000 miles on, riding to Sturgis as well as a solo trip and several group trips to the Pacific coast and surrounding areas. Her most recent fun was riding a Harley all throughout the “big island” of Hawaii in November 2007.
Please join her in discovering this beautiful country. She is looking forward to sharing the fun and excitement with you.