Nurse to “Neighborhood Historian"
Sandy bounced back and earned her GED; she then enrolled into the nursing program at Caldwell Community College. On completion of that program, she went to work as a nurse at Glenbridge and obtained her RN through the Watauga Medical Center. Sandy then earned her BS degree at Winston-Salem State University and worked for the Watauga County Health Department until her retirement in 2010. Sandy said she “always had this desire to help people, and I figured nursing would be a good way to go.” Nursing was not the only service Sandra provided for the Junaluska community; she started a food ministry called “Meals on the Hill,” which provided free meals to the sick and elderly to ensure no one in the community went hungry. She, along with her sister Roberta Jackson, also formed the Lydia Society, a women’s missionary group that focused on community improvement and outreach.
Sandy’s biggest contribution to the Junaluska community was being its local historian, as she always had an interest in history. She wanted to learn more about her and the community’s genealogy, leading her to help found the Junaluska Heritage Association. She was there when the cemetery marker was unveiled at the Boone Cemetery, which could not have been done without Sandy’s genealogical research, and she wanted to shed light on the Horton incident, an act of racial violence that still haunts the community. Learning more about the incident made her realize that the “people in Junaluska are so compliant,” yet despite this compliance, the white townsfolk could easily target the community if there was any trouble. Sandy’s work helped others in Junaluska reconnect to their roots and made the community and its history more known to the larger town. By reviving Junaluska’s history, Sandy encouraged fellow members of the community to reclaim their identity in a history that is predominantly written by white people.