Sandy, whose nickname was given as a nod to her red blonde hair, was born July 6, 1926. She was the sixth daughter of the late Tom and Alice Sanders.
It was a different day and time; Sandy wished to continue going to school past the 8th grade, the highest grade her local school, Pleasant Hill, offered. So from ninth grade until her senior year, she would get up while it was still dark, walk a mile to get to Highway 70, and catch a bus to Lakeside School. At Lakeside, she became a star basketball player before graduating in 1944.
Sandy married Orris Kirby Harter at the home of Arthur and Vera Cook in September of 1946. They were married over 60 years before he passed in June 2010.
A longtime downtown fixture, Sandy cashiered at Spiegel and managed both The Darling Shop and Mangles Dress Shop. Some days she would stand in the display windows and watch as Mayor Leo McLaughlin rode in his buggy down Central Avenue pulled by his favorite horses, Scotch and Soda.
After many years in retail downtown, Sandy went to work at the Rehabilitation Center from which she retired.
Sandy was greeted at the gate by her parents, her husband, and five of her sisters- Arlow Hillis, Bernice Gregory, Fay Sanders, Ruth Mann, and Violet Shores, as well as, many friends and co-workers. Her memory will be cherished by her sister, Emma Sanders; many nieces and nephews; a host of friends who knew her as “Aunt Sandy”; and her family at The Community of Christ.
