Rocky grew up along the San Pedro River in southern Arizona, where she learned to love the outdoors and everything Western.  Her writing career began in 1975, when she was hired as an advertising copywriter for KCPX Radio/TV (later KTVX) in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She worked in the broadcast media field for many years, both as a writer and media buyer.  

She writes the “Big Buckaroo” series of children’s books, with the title character based on her cousin, the late AC Ekker.  So far, the series includes three books: Big Buckaroo’s Little Sister, Big Buckaroo & Moose the Cow Dog, and Big Buckaroo Goes to the Special Olympics, featuring the character Firefighter Joe, based on a real Granite Mountain Hotshot.  The latter two books have been awarded Spur Finalist honors in 2013 and 2017 by the Western Writers of America.  

Rocky is presently working on a short story about the Granite Mountain Hotshots for juvenile readers, a biography of Bridget Sullivan, the Irish maid in the infamous Lizzie Borden household, and several other projects.  She currently serves as the Membership Chair for the Western Writers of America, and is also a Supporting Member of the International Western Music Association.  

AC was a Utah cowboy and rodeo star whose family owned the infamous Robbers Roost Ranch.  In 1975, AC guided actor Robert Redford through the Robbers Roost territory in eastern Utah, after which Mr. Redford published his account of this adventure, The Outlaw Trail, and AC was featured on the cover of National Geographic’s November 1976 issue.  AC succumbed to injuries suffered in a plane crash in November 2000.

Joe Thurston, who grew up in Cedar City, Utah, was AC Ekker’s nephew and a real wildland firefighter.  He was a member of the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots crew of Prescott, Arizona.  Joe, along with 18 of his comrades, perished on June 30, 2013 while fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire outside of Yarnell, Arizona.  This hero left behind a wife, two young sons, his mother, brother and sister.