Member Profile: Sandy Stoob
We think we know all about friends known for decades. But, do we really? Just ask about their life and stand back. This is what your author did one day in June with Sandy Stoob, a friend for 30-plus years.
Early Life Overseas
How could we know she spent much of her early life overseas, attended high school in Germany and France, learned several languages and is, above all, a committed diarist? The story of Sandy’s young years appears in “My Air Force Childhood in Diaries and Pictures” with the subtitle of “Japan, California, Texas, Michigan, California, Maryland, Texas, Ohio, Germany, France.”
Her father, Jack Stoob, an officer in the U.S. Air Force, was responsible for much of the overseas life and was stationed in Japan where Sandy was born, followed by a younger sister. A brother, Mike, came later. Life was adventurous because her mother, Idella, was. She dressed the girls in kimonos, took them to local festivals, and taught them a few useful words of Japanese.
Sandy at the Wildflower Run
Sandy and her sister Susie
“When my family lived in Japan and the first time in Texas, they couldn’t afford to phone their parents and their parents couldn’t afford to phone them. So, they made audiotapes which they sent back and forth. My paternal grandfather saved all those tapes. My brother inherited them and, being a sound engineer for a radio station in Hanover, Germany, he converted them to CDs. They are a treasure trove of family history (the audio version). On one tape, my Mom says she couldn’t wait until I started talking, but once I started talking, I wouldn’t shut up!”
Homeward Bound
When Sandy was almost 4, the family flew 20-plus hours to a new posting in Sacramento, refueling in Alaska where the girls saw a (stuffed) polar bear. This she remembers well.
“I was excited to be in the U.S.,” she remembered, “because Mickey Mouse spoke English here – and it was so sunny!”
Her father was first based at Travis AFB in Fairfield, then moved to Texas where he worked on his master’s degree at Texas A&M.
Then, on to Michigan where Sandy received her first camera (good diaries require photos). Her father, now a navigator, was gone a lot. “Mom didn’t like that,” she said. Idella even asked if he would stop flying. “Actually, Jack had to get his Congressman to write a letter to the Defense Department for permission to stop flying. The Vietnam war was heating up and the Air Force almost made him continue flying,” Sandy added.
Back to Amarillo they went for the summer while Jack trained to be a supply officer. While he managed supplies for the Vietnam war, and Sandy was in third grade, the family lived in Santa Rosa. This was when she started her affair with diaries, first on school paper, later in actual books.
Intro to Diary One: “I began my first diary in December, 1968, at the tender age of 9, for reasons I do not remember. I kept a diary off and on for 10 years, until I started college. The diaries start with the comically poor spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, and handwriting of a 4th grader.” She got better.
First entry: “Sunday – 1 Went to church made pinata. Came home and played had dinner. Monday – 2 Went to school came home saw reef [wreath] played Chinese jump rope had dinner. Made a reef. had fun. bedtime. [And, so it went].
Sandy’s First Diary, age 9 to 18
Idella, always wanting adventure, instigated outings everywhere they lived: to the Smithsonian and the New Jersey seashore, and joined many school trips. She was a Camp Fire Girls leader at Camp Yocomico in 1969. Sandy attended summer camp at Andrews Air Force Base in 1969 and was in D.C. for the first Earth Day.
Then back to Texas A&M for Jack’s Ph.D. Her mom liked the access to university courts, pools, and fields: great for the kids. Idella started student teaching when brother Mike was in 3rd grade; she had earned her degree from UCLA while Jack was training as a navigator in Texas.
On the move again after Jack’s Ph.D. in computers, they went to Ohio where Sandy joined the swim and track teams and enjoyed life. She looks back on “a lovely childhood.”
Then, On, To Germany
And, so it went until he was stationed near Ramstein AFB in Germany (Sandy was 17). While she had studied French in elementary and high school, their village, Waldmohr, was German-speaking. Being her creative self, Idella put a sign on their house in English: “If you can read this sign, come to our door.” Within an hour several children arrived followed by much of the neighborhood. A neighbor was hired to teach the children German. Sandy’s brother, Mike, later majored in German at Humboldt State, got a job in Hanover, and married a German woman. “I loved Germany,” Sandy said.
Naturally, the family took advantage of tours the Air Force offered, visiting Paris and Zurich, enjoying cruises, and dropping into a discotheque – where Sandy was happy to find a lower drinking age than in the U.S.
Sandy graduated from high school in 1977 with a Dept. of Defense diploma. Not ready to leave Europe, she continued high school in France, at the Lycée Poncelet, Saint Avold. Living with a French-speaking family – and taking classes in French – helped her fluency.
Sandy off to high school in France, age 18
Sandy and Karen’s European Adventure, 1977
Travels With Sandy
Once high school was finished, Sandy and a cousin traveled around Europe on the Eurorail/Interrail, enjoying Paris and other delightful places for a month. Details from this trip appear in her next diary-book, “Sandy and Karen’s European Adventure”. Naturally they took only backpacks.
Adventures At a Small Town College
Finally, back in the U.S., Sandy ended up at Chico State College (now university). “I wanted a small environment in a new place,” she admitted.
Still adventurous, Sandy majored in computer science – a subject totally new to her – and minored in math and German – her connection for living in “The German House” on campus.
As a freshman Sandy tutored students in French, then spent a summer with her family in Germany working as a bus girl at the Ramstein AFB Officers Club. As a sophomore she worked as a waitress at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Chico, and, later, was in a summer/work study in Goleta, near UC Santa Barbara.
And, So To Work
After graduation and now a real adult, Sandy interviewed at Texas Instruments and Microsoft but ended up at our local IBM on Bailey, where she spent the next 40 years, working mostly on a database software product that was invented for the Apollo program. “My job was never boring and always challenging,” she said. Presenting at conferences around the country and the world kept things interesting.
Sandy met Jerry Goldsmith in 1985 at IBM. She had gone to get coffee when he stopped her, threw up his arms and said, “Can I buy you a coffee?” Sandy had a boyfriend at the time but was trying to break up with him so Jerry’s interruption seemed opportune. It was; they married in 1986.
A year later they looked for a house in Morgan Hill and found the one on La Rocca Court where they live today. “We love Morgan Hill,” she said. Daughter Jesana was born in 1991. Yes, it’s a combo name: Je (Jerry) Sana (Sandra).
Besides family and work, Sandy still enjoys making books. The list to date includes her family history and one on Jerry’s family who have been in America for centuries. During the Covid-19 shutdown she did one with scenes of an empty Morgan Hill. Another was of her great-grandfather’s book of his mother’s experience being disinherited from the family farm. Brother Mike translated that book from German to English.
Sandy, Jerry, and Jesana at the Madonna Inn
Since 1989, AAUW has been a part of her life.
“My mom belonged to AAUW when she lived in Arcata,” Sandy remembers, so she was happy to find a branch in her new home town. “I was hooked. Morgan Hill programs were so interesting.”
Sandy was International Chair where she met Barbara Palmer, served as public policy chair, secretary for two years, and then co-web manager for five years, which she continues to do. Working for the Wildflower Run since 1992/93, she did publicity, course, and tally chair for two years each, and worked on the 2K and registration for five years each – and counting.
Her favorite AAUW event? “I did love being in charge of 2K kids. It was nice to use my tech skills.” She is now helping Carol O’Hare pare down the branch photo collection and history records.
The Kids’ 2K Race
Sandy with 2K volunteers
Lately Sandy has joined the new meditation group “Seekers” and Marcia Fishman’s “Read Around the World” book group.
Who influenced her the most in Morgan Hill? “Barbara Palmer,” she said immediately “She is an amazing woman; I try to copy what she does.” Sandy added in an email: “In addition to Barbara Palmer, you [Carol Holzgrafe] are my role model too! All those years you and Barbara were so involved in Tech Trek, and you for starting Evening Books.”
What was the most fun with AAUW? “That’s easy: the Rowdy Outing to the Berkeley Bookstores was fabulous, followed by the time we figured out our personalities.”
Has AAUW changed your life? “Well, of course. I love the interest groups; it’s a way to get to know a smaller group of people on a more personal level. People can be fascinating.”
A Busy Social Life
Sandy has recently joined the Morgan Hill Historical Society and the Friends of the Library. She enjoys sewing and doing crafty things – and just enjoys being around people. She volunteered in Jesana’s kindergarten class, drove on field trips, was secretary for the Emerald Regime, catered their competitions, and worked on the Halloween parties. “It was fascinating, overhearing the kids’ conversation,” Sandy admitted.
Since three languages are really not enough, Sandy is now tackling Spanish so she can speak to her daughter’s mother-in-law. And there is always Japanese…..
Special “adventures”? Making the most of her hard-earned retirement, Sandy and Jerry checked off a Bucket List entry this June with a boat trip down the Columbia and Snake Rivers. And why not return to Japan, left behind as a child in 1962? And there always is Scotland.
When asked how she wants to be remembered, Sandy didn’t need time to think. “I want to be remembered as a helper of mankind.” She will also be remembered for her deep commitment to her town and for a remarkable series of diaries. And as a good friend.
Carol Holzgrafe
Sandy and Jerry at a 2025 Hill Family reunion