Biography

Chelley Gardner-Smith, M.A., is a retired teacher from Academy School District 20.  In her teaching career she taught preschool through college but likes middle school students most.  Her poems appeared in Voices of the Muse 2000: Women Writing in the Service of Social Justice, edited by Rebekah Shardy.

She has written over 75 articles for The Woodmen Edition, a local north Colorado Springs newspaper, and has been a guest writer for The Gazette Telegraph.  She  served as  the president of the board for Partners in Housing, a non-profit organization that helps homeless people with children.  She is also a graduate of the same program.

She does art-therapy privately and in group settings, as well as dream work. Currently she is finishing a 'magical- realistic' novel about WWII and the life of her father who came back very changed by the war.  Eleven  wonderful people call her Grandma.  

Currently, she works at the Myron Stratton Home, a non profit in the Colorado Springs community and is completing her certification in pastoral care.