Millie Clarkson's inspiration for writing a book
on artist Edna Hibel came from her purchase of a box of Mother and Child note
cards. During her twenties, an incredibly rough period of her life, Clarkson
pasted note cards on the wall of her dingy apartment and said looking at them
gave her peace of mind, solitude, and a sense of composure. Forty years later,
when she met Hibel in person at a gift shop in Naples, Florida, a deep
friendship between the two women began. In Clarkson's own words she says of
Hibel, “I had to know more about this amazing person. . . . I wanted to share
with others my discovery of Edna Hibel.”
Clarkson's artistry began in 1969 when she
worked as Santa's artist at Santa's Village Amusement Park in Dendee, Illinois.
The next decade, her “creative years,” was simultaneously fueled by her drive
for physical fitness. She decided that she wanted to do something unique and
then write about it. After participating in numerous triathlons, including the
Ironman Triathlon, she wrote Low-Stress Fitness, published in
1985.
An avid presenter and speaker, Clarkson has been
interviewed numerous times on radio and television talk shows. She was dubbed
“the Unsinkable Millie Brown” by the media because of her tireless promotional
activities. Clarkson engages in her personal and professional activities with
high energy as she continues to write, enjoy gardening, teach tai chi and yoga,
decorate, and delight in being a grandmother to her fifteen grandchildren. She
lives in Naples, Florida, from November to May and in Ontario, Canada, from
June to October.
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