KELLY STEED LIFE BIO
"I passionately hate the idea of
being with it, I think an artist
has always to be out of step with his time."
--Orson Welles
1. Kelly Age 4 in Civil War dress before her first Muzzleloaders Festival at Greenfield Village.
2. Kelly (approx. age 10) & Brother Doug Lee taken at Rev. War event Bath, Ohio.
My parents got involved in historical re-enacting when I was three years old. I thought that I'd be a re-enactor for the rest of my life. I saw re-enactors as being somehow above everyone else because we remembered the past. When I was thirteen, my world was ripped apart. I became a regimental nurse and discovered that by virtue of being a woman I was a second-class citizen. I expected to have to fight for my place on the field so I carried my documentation with me; but I didn't expect some of those I loved, who seemingly loved me, to turn on me! My world came crashing down around me at Yorktown in 1981, when my regiment refused to fight to take me into the trenches with them. Regiments are supposed to stick together.
By 1984, I had become a soldier and a member in my own right (not under my father) of the 10th VA Light Infantry. My husband Richard was our corporal.
Combine the women's situation with the problems everyone was having: fighting to do first person impressions and scenarios, to use documentation from museums that the organization refused to recognize, the power hungry egomaniacs there only to get their pictures in the paper, and regional infighting pretty much destroyed Revolutionary War Re-enacting in Michigan. They're a few who still hang on; but it will never be what it had been back in the 70's.
Regimental Nurse, 1st. Penn., Age 16
Fort Meigs Perrysburg, Ohio
At one time, I dreamed of a career as a history teacher and to work summers in a museum; but the discovery of the amount of politics involved in both occupations turned me off. Politics destroy a teacher's ability to teach and in a museum the site suffers. I worked as a substitute for two school districts, as a paid staff member for a couple of museums and did some volunteer work at a museum until I became ill both physically and spiritually. I suffer from depression, a condition that can be particularly debilitating because my brain doesn't function correctly due to a chemical imbalance. That imbalance goes way back to my childhood, it just finally progressed to the stage where I wasn't functional without medication.
Hospital Matron Fort Howard Hospital 1836
Heritage Hill State Park, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Summer 1990
Fort Howard Staff
Jane (Draves) Bauer, Melinda (Trainor) Hutchinson and Kelly (Roberts) Steed
with our stalwart soldier Chris Patton across our laps relax after work on the porch of the
Baird Law Office 1835, Heritage Hill State Park 1990. Fort Staff Rules!
Writing had always been a part of my future career plans, so Richard encouraged me to pursue it full-time. The plan before and during college was to write history because my ambition had been to become a museum curator and a college professor. In both occupations, you're expected to publish; but the politics killed those dreams. For now, I'm writing fiction (science fiction/horror, alternative history, historical fiction & young adult horror) and having a good time doing it! I've loved science fiction since I was a child! (Check out the link to my sci-fi photos at the bottom of the page!!!) I may write nonfiction history someday ; but I have no desire to return to college to pursue my original career plans.
I launched my career as a professional author in 1991. I spent the first five years learning the industry and practicing the craft then an additional five completing Stasis. All through the rejection letters and ill-treatment I received from peole around me one overriding event kept coming back to me. Mrs. Claudia Odefer, my high school English teacher, once told me that I had a wonderful imagination and that if I just applied myself I could be a professional author. I never forgot that! Thank you Mrs. Odefer!
Mrs. Odefer and Kelly in the St. Clement High School hallway in 1983. St. Clement High School
(Centerline, MI). St. Clement High School closed it's doors for good in 2005.
"I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
- Thomas Jefferson (I've always thought Jefferson was sexy!)
1. Jackie Czarnik on her way to the ball at Greenfield Village Dearborn, MI.
2. Kelly in 1983 as Deborah Sampson, a.k.a. Robert Shurtliff, who fought as a soldier with
the 4th Massachusetts Light Infantry Regiment in the American Revolution. I was 19.
To Kelly Better Known as Robbie
By Jackie Czarnik (Trzcinski)
The sunlight gleams on the soldier’s gun
Her eyes are squinting in the morning sun.
Standing ready, searching for the enemy’s face,
She is here in some man’s place.
The soldier sees Redcoats on the hill,
Slowly marching the sun rises still.
The two armies meet, their muskets crack
For courage or bravery, neither side lacks.
The battle has been won, the British fled.
In this fight, no one has bled.
The armies converge to laugh and joke,
To hear of deed’s of the others’ spoke.
Together they walk back to camp.
Dusk is setting, someone lights a lamp.
The soldier from battle trades her shirt,
For something more suitable, her long skirt,
Chemise, bodice and a cap.
She sits by the fire hands in her lap,
Watching the pots boiling for sup.
Re-enacting’s a hobby she’ll never give up!!
(To my dear friend Kelly Roberts, known to William as Robbie, may you always win the war.)
Copyright 1985 Jackie Czarnik. All rights reserved. Displayed with Permission.
The Cosmic Moi:
Aries Star Formation
Aries
March 21- April 19
Element: Fire
Metal: Iron
Ruling Planet: Mars
Gem: Diamond
Kelly: Irish Gaelic for "Warrior Woman"
Birth Date: April 6, 1965
Birthplace: Detroit, MI
School Loyalty: St. Bartholomew Elementary
Our
Name & Team:
The RAMS! (of course)
I'm fired with the passion of my element FIRE and tempered with the steel of my ruling
planet MARS. All this means that I'm really goal oriented, so I approach life like
I'm storming the Beaches at Normandy!
Click button for photos of The Society For the Preservation of the Imagination (SPI),
Northern Michigan University's Sci-Fi Club and Con Photos from various Cons and years!
Photos Added February 2006
Roberts Family Genealogy:
Roberts is a family name within the Scottish Clan Robertson.
Donnachaidh is the Gaelic name.
Clan Motto: Glory is the reward of valour.
Websites:
The Official Website of the Clan Donnachaidh
Clan Donnachaidh Society Upper Midwest, Inc.
My
Dearest Ancestors
by
Kelly Steed
Where
are you
My
bonnie, bonnie Robertsons,
Who
stood at Bannockburn,
And
screamed in rage,
As
the English
Tried
to put you in a cage?
Where
are you
My
bonnie, bonnie Robertsons?
Did
you bury your hearts at Culloden Moor,
Vowing
to fight no more?
I
look at your descendants
And
wonder where you are.
I
hide my face in shame,
As
the values you fought for
Have
all but died in vain.
Where
are you
My
bonnie, bonnie Robertsons?
Am
I the last of a dying breed?
That
your hearts burn inside me
Is
both a gift and a curse.
I’m
moved to action
Yet
stalled by fate.
Reach
to me from your graves,
I
need your strength
To survive the slings and arrows of my day.
Author's Note: This poem was written about my immediate family who seem to have lost their
Scottish roots and sensibilities. This poem should not be misconstrued as a condemnation
of the rest of the Robertson Clan descendants who are proud of their heritage.
Kelly's Links
Sir Graves Ghastly was a movie host on local TV and a very memorable part of my childhood!
I took the quiz and my inner dragon is RED, like my fire element under my Zodiac sign Aries. The Red Dragon is Evil. Hum, could I really have been born evil? Knaw, I just answered the questions the way a dragon would. However, if you cross me....
You are Donnie Darko!
You are confused and mentally
unstable but you are a truly great guy
who just
wants to love, be loved, and not die alone.
"I
promise one day everything will be
better for you."
Which Donnie Darko Character Are You?
brought to
you by Quizill
Which God Are You? Take the Age of Mythology
Quiz and find out. Richard is Set and I'm Odin.
My Squirrels used to do this all the time, despite my continuously berating them for it!
Much to my dismay, I wound up burying a number of them.
