<p>Susan J. LeBel grew up in New Hampshire, enjoying the great outdoors. As a young girl she attended the Currier Art School to explore her interests in drawing and painting. After living in Washington, DC for a few years she returned to New Hampshire, becoming a police officer in Goffstown. Her career in law enforcement spanned 30 years. Aside from the continuous education in that field, she also studied at the NH Institute of Art, with oil painting being her most loved medium. She lived in a log cabin, where she enjoyed painting and gardening. After meeting the love of her life, Kevin Bevis, they built their own home on a lake. Painting en plein air, mostly on the seacoast of Maine and New Hampshire, and painting portraits, led her to enlarge her studio to accommodate several works at any given time. As they both loved history, traveling to research the book was an adventure: Charlestown, Mass, Concord, NH, Charleston, SC,  Washington, DC, Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, NJ, Poughkeepsie, NY. Now in the autumn of their years, they enjoy their family, friends and especially their grandchildren…and their Australian cattle dog, Koko.</p>
