Blind since birth, Laurel Jean took up her formal study of music at age five, and for ten years was instructed in the areas of keyboard and vocal theory, note reading, ear training, composition, performance and presentation.  During this time she was also active in recitals, as well as school and community events.  When asked what inspired her to study and work with music, she says, "All in God's timing, I progressed from the two-year-old who clunked around on the family's old spinet piano, to the five-year-old who thought, 'Gee! I'd really like to learn to play this thing!'  Then, it eventually dawned on me that people of all ages would listen to a message, interspersed with, or encompassed by music. This message varies with each occasion for which I present, whether serving as a quiet example of a professional blind individual as I provide music in the background, or combining Scriptures and stories with music to develop a particular theme."

   Laurel Jean attended public school through the ninth grade, learning Braille and independent cane travel in addition to her regular curriculum. Following ninth grade, she transferred her studies to the Hadley School For the Blind, Winnetka, IL, which enrolls over eleven thousand students worldwide. Through Hadley's distance education, she added business and Braille music courses to her high school agenda and graduated with honors. As a post-graduate, Laurel was named Hadley's "Student of the Year".  "My studies at Hadley allowed me to correspond and interact with many blind professionals from a variety of venues," Laurel explains. "These people continue to inspire me."

   Laurel Jean’s academic and Musical achievements have earned national recognition.  An experienced lyricist, composer, and arranger, she continues her research of music styles, including the study, promotion, and piano interpretation of traditional music from around the world. She has also completed advanced studies of Braille through the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, which certified her ability to review any literary writing produced professionally in Braille, to offer advice and make corrections to the manuscript for the transcribing establishment.  "This certification as a Literary Braille Proofreader is important to me, in that it serves as a foundation for the outreach promoting Braille literacy and awareness, which is part of my work today," Laurel says.

   Laurel Jean's Music and Ministry continue to branch out. She has traveled as of this writing, throughout her home state of Illinois, the surrounding states of Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin, in addition to Connecticut, Florida, South Carolina and South Dakota.  "I am very fulfilled by the work that I do!" she exclaims, "Not just the music, speaking and traveling, but the manual labor of unloading, loading, setting up and tearing down equipment, planning travel routes, calling, writing, communicating with the colleagues to whom I contract my promotional printing, working with the technical assistant who brings the Web site to life and prepares my audio and printing for mass-production, meeting with my advisors...and so much more...all of this is my life!

   When asked to elaborate on how her blindness has affected her life, she says, "I believe that all life is valuable, and that when a human life is created, parents have an obligation to nurture that life, making it the very best that it can be.  Beyond that, unless one is incapable of doing so, I believe that God gives each of us a free will to choose to make the best, or the worst of any given situation.  When we give God the glory in all things, our lives truly have meaning, and awesome things happen!  I thank God for the people who enrich my life, and the assistive technology, which makes my life more efficient. But, most of all, I can't imagine my life not to mention my eternity, without the awesome Presence of my Lord and Savior!”