About Anneliese Maughan Kvamme

I was born in Germany and graduated from high school in Japan. (That's usually an eye-catcher!)

Courtesy of the U.S. Army, I lived with my family in the following locations, in order: Boise, Idaho; Provo, Utah; Augusta, Georgia; Pirmasens, Germany; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; Monterey, California; Ft. Huachuca, Arizona; Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan; and Manassas, Virginia. With seven younger sisters and one younger brother, I never felt truly lonely when we moved.

I graduated Valedictorian from Kadena High School on Okinawa in 1986. I attended Brigham Young University from Fall 1986 to Winter 1990, majoring in physics with an emphasis in secondary education. (Sometimes I think I should have majored in English, instead.) My formal schooling was placed on hold while I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Osaka, Japan, for a year and a half. (Marvelous experience!) After returning, I married Kim James Kvamme in the LDS Temple in Mesa, Arizona. I finally received my diploma from BYU August 1993, after doing my student teaching at a high school in Tempe, taking a few classes at Arizona State University to transfer back to BYU, and taking a few more courses via BYU's Independent Study program.

After a few years in Sierra Vista, AZ, our family spent a year in Minneapolis, MN, then a year in Alamogordo, NM. After a very brief stay in Rodeo, NM, and two great years in the Dallas area, we moved down to the Austin, TX area.  Three years later (two of which were in a heavenly house in Elgin,) we moved back to Rodeo, NM.  This time, we have a house to live in, instead of a camper and a shed.

I worked for three years in a government contracting company before finally coming home with the birth of our second daughter. Now, there are five little princesses in our home, ages 13, 11, 9, 7, and 4.  For a few years, I finally had the chance to use the education I earned in college, as I taught my daughters at home.  Now I work part-time as a role-player at Playas Training and Research Center, helping to train first responders and military groups.  (Think of it as acting, without the guild card . . .)

I like to work bobbin lace, write poetry, cross-stitch, sing, read, and embroider.  I recently developed an interest in embroidery from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Ana-chan was a nickname given to me by fellow Japanese language classmates at BYU. "Chan" is an endearing suffix affixed to a girl's or child's name. And "Ana," along with sounding similar to the first part of my name, means "hole." They used to joke that I must have a hole in my head to be taking advanced Japanese language courses without having first lived among the Japanese to gain fluency.