Gretel hails from eastern Kansas where she spent the first 31 years of her life, more or less. Much of her adulthood was occupied with raising six children while running her own freelance photojournalism business. She worked on staff at the Killeen Daily Herald in Killeen, Texas, and has been either a freelancer or staff member at The Daily Sentinel since 1988. While a freelancer, she also covered northwestern Colorado for The Denver Post for several years, and worked on assignment for numerous state and national publications.