Ardyce C. Whalen earned both of her bachelor's degrees-Education and Visual Arts-and her master's degree in Communication from the University of North Dakota. She then went on to teach English at the junior and senior high levels during her years as a public school teacher. In addition, she and her husband raised five children; at one time they had five teenagers in the house until the oldest daughter celebrated her twentieth birthday. Whalen has been published in Central States Speech Journal and Gifted, Creative, Talented (a magazine for elementary and junior high students).