Vera Polenova married American citizen Thomas C. Kistler in 1947 and went with him to Darlington, South Dakota. In 1949 she became an American citizen. She studied music education at Coker College (Bachelor 1969) and at the University of South Carolina (Master 1973). In 1987, she earned a doctoral degree in composition from the USC. She worked as a music teacher and composed about 40 choral and solo works after poems by well-known lyricists and her own texts (including Song of Myself , Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening , To the Thawing Wind , Morning Star , Measure Me, Sky!, Once a Year At Christmas , Mary’s Lamb , Marching With the River , A Rilke Trilogy , Good Night, Beloved ) as well as several chamber music and orchestral works. She has also published three novels as well as poetry, essays and short stories in literary journals in the US, Canada and Europe.