Beanie-Buddy is a retired elementary and middle school teacher. She officially retired February 1, 1999. She has been a teacher of Academically Gifted students, classroom, remediation and computer teacher and supervisor of the Academically Gifted Program in Wake County Public Schools in Raleigh, North Carolina. After a year's retirement, Beanie-Buddy taught Academically Gifted Resource 1/2 time in a Cary, NC, year-round elementary school for another year and a half. She is now retired again. Beanie-Buddy is married to a plant physiologist and has two grown children plus two cats, Sterling and Mariska.

She has a B.A. and an M.Ed Degree from North Carolina State University. Everyone in her family is a Wolf Pack fan, but they also cheer for East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

She became interested in Beanie Babies when her students started bringing them to school and because of gifts of Beanie Babies from her two sisters. Chocolate was her first Teenie Beanie and Squealer was her first Beanie Baby. The bears are her favorite Beanies with Peace and Garcia tying for first place.

Beanie Babies were incorporated into her computer curriculum and students learned to use a data base and a spread sheet using Beanie information. Creative writing exercises and computer art followed. The students at Durant Road Elementary School enjoyed working with Beanie topics and assignments in computer class.

In addition to Beanie Babies, Beanie-Buddy also loves puzzles. Her beanie puzzles were published in Mary Beth's Beanie World for Kids magazine. Beginning with the June '99 issue, her puzzles will be published in Mary Beth's Beanie World Monthly. She also had a stitchery article in the June' 99 issue of Beanie Mania magazine.

You may contact Beanie-Buddy at beanbuddy@mindspring.com

By the way, her name is Loretta.