Libby grew up in Portland, Oregon and earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Oregon State University, enjoying half of her junior year abroad in London, England studying Theatre Appreciation. After graduation, she waited tables at resorts in Maui, Hawaii while saving money for a half-year hitchhiking and backpacking trip in Northern Europe. Following the trip, Libby returned to Oregon and enrolled in a Master of Teaching Program at Oregon State University, earning both a MAT and an Oregon Teaching License. As a new teacher, Libby worked five years in the Waldorf community of private schools in the roles of class teacher in the lower grades, lead teacher, and board member. In 1996, Libby began her family and refocused professional energy to instructing piano and giving art lessons, both from home. As her own children entered school, Libby began a five-year academic quest of Central Oregon public schools as a substitute teacher - teaching in almost every school kindergarten through twelfth grade in Bend and beyond and experiencing almost every academic discipline at almost every grade level. (Yes, she is serious about the "Every" parts!) Thoroughly stimulated by this quest and the inspired educators with whom she collaborated, Libby realized her dream as full-time faculty with Cascades Academy. When she is not in the classroom, Libby can be found reading with her fiction reading group The Six Buttes, singing soprano with The Mothers of Intention, painting watercolor landscapes with her husband Charlie, carting her children Madeline and Robert around town, or exploring pioneer cemeteries with her dog Angie.
