Trudie was born in San Francisco in 1955 to Veronica Romo and Harold Bowen. The family moved around in the early years following her father's job managing Arthur Murray dance studios. The Bowens settled back in San Francisco in 1965. Trudie joined the US Postal Service in 1978 where she met and married Steve Folsom. Steve and Trudie, along with their dogs, cats, and horse, moved to Santa Rosa 1989. Trudie left the post office in 2000, went back to school, and worked in tech for 16 years, mostly at Intuit with a stint at GoDaddy.

Trudie has always loved painting and drawing, and just before retirement got into floor loom weaving. Around the same time Steve got into woodworking. The tools of their hobbies quickly became bigger than their little rancher could hold. They moved to Cloverdale in 2019 across the street from Reverends Tim and Bob. The rest is history!