~ Beth Freiman

Well, I can't honestly say I started out with a mentor. If I recall correctly, I met and befriended a lady who lived near me in New Jersey and I want to say we met because we were both members of wwwcga. So I imagine my mentor(s) would initially be the group from wwwcga.
 
As years went by, I met some wonderful, knowledgeable people who shared some of their smarts with me. Isaak Sommershein comes to mind...Bruce Dooley...Casy Rich, and Tom Burns. I would also put Connie O'Connor in that category since we have discussed and visited one another's collections many times and shared discussions about what we liked and why, where we got the pieces, and why our specific tastes differed in some cases.

I think that's why it's so darn important to attend a club convention and get to know the people. You learn things without realizing it, osmosis if you will. I still learn something new almost every time I fire up the computer and visit the many wonderful Carnival Glass pages on Facebook or when I am doing research for a post that I want to make. It keeps the hobby exciting and fresh for me and I never get tired of looking at my collection.

~Beth

Photo: Beth (standing) with Christina