If anyone can dispel the stereotype of Grandma sitting in her rocking chair knitting, it's Virginia Schuster.

The Reisterstown grandmother, who has raised nine children, has worked in real estate for the past 25 years; served on the Political Affairs Committee of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors; was a board member of the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Chamber of Commerce; and serves on the Northwest Republican Club Board of Directors.

And now she's a Republican candidate for House of Delegates in the 11th Legislative District.

Mrs. Schuster, who attended the Institute of Notre Dame and Notre Dame College, holds strong pro-life beliefs. 'Roe v. Wade was, in my opinion, one of the most divisive and devastating rulings ever made by the Supreme Court,' she says. 'We are presently reaping the results of that decision. Who could ever imagine what is referred to as partial birth abortion? It is, quite simply, infanticide. This horror and contempt for human life takes one back to the awful days of the Holocaust.'

As a businesswoman, one of Mrs. Schuster's main priorities, if elected, will be to make Maryland a pro-business state. 'Maryland's business climate is far from healthy,' she notes. 'High taxes and crushing regulation make it difficult for businesses to thrive--or survive.'

Maryland must eliminate unnecessary and burdensome regulations, she says. It also needs to make real cuts in personal income taxes, increase exemptions for families with children, and reduce real estate settlement costs and property taxes.

In the area of education, Mrs. Schuster believes parents should be treated as partners in education, and teachers should be freed to do 'what works' in their classrooms.