Ingrid Monrad was born in Iowa, and her family moved to Tucson when she was two. Her husband Larry is a native of Arizona, and a consulting electrical engineer who has his own business. They have two sons, ages 34 and 21. One works at Monrad Engineering, the younger is in his fourth year of college at ASU.

Ingrid, or Twink, as she is known, gets to go out rockhounding twice a week in areas around Tucson, and goes to Gold Basin every couple or three months, and also enjoys sewing, cooking and golf.

Twink is a volunteer with the Pima County Sheriff's Department, working with victims, and the Pima County Victim Witness Program. These volunteers are out all night in a county car with police radios and respond when requested by law enforcement to crime scenes, or anyplace where a victim needs assistance or crisis intervention. They also do death notifications.

Twink says, "I love being out of doors in our beautiful Sonoran desert or mountains. Rockhounding or gold prospecting is a good way to see lots of different country and take beautiful photographs of everywhere I go. I enjoyed writing about Gold Basin, will be looking for another exciting adventure about which to write!" Back