Marilyn Berman

Marilyn Berman was born in Chicago in 1939. Upon graduation from high school, she left for the University of Michigan to study communication disorders and psychology. Receiving her PhD in 1969, she accepted a faculty position at Indiana University’s department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, teaching courses in speech disorders and research design and fulfilling a long-held desire to teach future professionals.

Wanting to return to a metropolitan city, Marilyn became the supervisor of speech language pathology at the VA Medical center in Atlanta, also teaching part-time at Emory University. Later, she became chief of audiology and speech language pathology at the same hospital. Marilyn retired at the age of sixty to begin a private practice in foreign accent reduction, serving such clients as physicians and IT instructors. Across the next several years, she also taught part-time at Georgia State University, worked in a bookstore, managed the secret shoppers at Hartsfield- Jackson airport, and was the first director of a Jewish-sponsored help center for the LGBT community.

Her passions include travel, theater, movies, and reading—especially mysteries and historical fiction. Yielding to the strong pull of travel, she wandered for eighteen months across the United States and Canada, keeping a journal of places, people, and events. Soon after returning to Atlanta, a friend encouraged her to write about her adventures. Accepting the challenge, a new passion emerged. Joining two enthusiastic writers groups provided the impetus to write Traveling the Two-Lane.