Sandy co-manages the Swannanoa Community Garden with Maureen Dillow. She completed the Warren Wilson College Service Learning Fellows program in the spring of 2014 and is on the community partnership board at the college.  She also attends garden-related conferences and is a member of The WNC Gardens that Give.

Sandy holds a two-year degree in Human Services (Social Work) and also a two-year degree in Early Childhood Education. She and her husband bought a home in Beacon Village in 2010, where she provides caretaking for family members. Sandy was in the Navy and served as a petty officer in the aviation branch during the Vietnam War, tracking repairs and inspections on the aircraft in her squadron. She has also been a Sunday School teacher, a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader, and a marching band parent/volunteer. Her hobbies include scrapbooking, crafts, decorating, learning more about the history of the Valley she now calls home . . . and, of course, gardening.