Marsha Arzberger is a cowgirl, a pilot, a retired Arizona State Senator, a former Dean of a junior college, and an author. She and her late husband had a ranch and a large farm in southeastern Arizona, and she flew her private plane to and from the home ranch for many years. She is now retired and recently moved to Alabama to be near family.

She has always enjoyed a challenge, and is an instrument-rated pilot, logging over 5,000 hours of flying. She and her husband flew search-and-rescue missions in the Arizona mountains for Civil Air Patrol.

Marsha was elected as Arizona State Senator for the maximum four terms, and was Minority Leader in the Arizona Senate.

She has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, both earned with honors.

As a young teen, she gentled and trained a colt, and at the age of 16 she taught a 4-H class in horsemanship. The group of youngsters, ages 10-14, performed a precision riding drill at the St. Joseph Rodeo in Missouri. Marsha, at age 17, entered the barrel-racing event at the rodeo, riding her beloved pinto horse, and at age 18 entered the Rodeo Queen contest and became a Rodeo Princess.

Marsha’s recent book is One Hundred Sixty Acres of Dirt, a non-fiction history of pioneers in Arizona in 1909—a history told in stories. Set in 1909, the book tells the true stories of farmers, families, cowboys, pioneer women and schoolmarms. The pioneers dealt with rustlers, Apaches and arid Arizona. Pioneer women managed their homesteads and ran boarding hotels for miners. One of the stories in the book is “Seven Hundred Miles in a Covered Wagon”—about two women and a baby who made that journey alone. There are shoot-outs and cowboy pranks. All the stories came from family records, interviews, and treasured family photos and scrapbooks.

Marsha published a historical romance novel in 1982 and self-published two family history books. She wrote articles for the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Range News, and Arizona Highways. Recently, she had a good laugh when her daughter was researching historical newspapers and informed her that she was first published at the age of 13 (in the St. Joseph News-Press) and her article won the “Prize letter of the week.” What fun!

Today, Marsha still loves a challenge. She delves into history and genealogy to discover the stories hidden behind the facts. Her family lives nearby and they call themselves a clan. Sunday dinners are good food and fun. Marsha shares a house with her son and lives with a little white dog, a big gray ranch cat, and a rescued calico kitten. She insists they “talk” to her.

Naturally she is working on another book and is searching for a publishing home for a collection of stories about animals and birds in Arizona—all true stories.

Marsha’s website: www.wanderingowltales.com