Biography

I was born August 1967 in an Army hospital in Wurzburg, Germany. When I came into the world, my father, John ‘Del’ Sanders, was serving as an Army officer in Germany and my mother, Audrey, was the bookkeeper at the local “Rod and Gun Club.” My father's career in the Army took our family to many duty stations. Leading me to attend a new school every year until Junior High. Upon Dad’s retirement, the Sanders family finally settled in Leavenworth. Although, my younger sister, Priscilla, did not care much for moving each year, I always looked forward to meeting new people and learning about new places.

For my senior year at Leavenworth High School and my freshman year in College, I attended Saint Mary College. I then headed off to Lawrence and became a Jayhawk at the University of Kansas. While pondering the meaning of life and what to do after college, I realized during my junior year that I desired a job that meant something more than just a paycheck. The previous summer I had worked in the Port Call Office at Fort Leavenworth, and was impressed by the airline tickets I prepared for soldiers and their families going all over the world. It sparked my interest. By joining the military I could see the world while serving my country! I joined Army ROTC and (just in case I was not selected for active duty) I filled out my application for the Peace Corps. Turned out I never submitted my application to the Peace Corps because I was selected for active duty and graduated in 1989 a Distinguished Military Graduate with my Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.

I went on active duty in 1990 as an Army Air Defense Artillery Officer in 1990 and transferred in 1994 to Military Intelligence. So I went from shooting down airplanes to analyzing loads of data. I served most of my eight year commitment at Fort Hood, Texas, and Seoul, Korea. As a Captain in Korea I attended night school, earning my Masters Degree in Management and spending my Saturdays as a volunteer at the Military Spouse’s Club gift shop to help raise money for military children’s scholarships and local Korean charities. After eight years active duty, while still in Korea, I transferred to the Army Reserve.

Continuing my public service career as a Department of Defense civilian employee, I served as a security specialist for the Special Operations Command in Korea, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Navy in Washington, DC, and the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas.

As an officer in the Reserves I have kept quite busy. Besides the one weekend a month and four weeks of annual training each year, I was mobilized immediately after 9-11 for Operation Noble Eagle with the US Army Corps of Engineers and reported to Fort Hamilton in New York City for initial recovery operations. I spent a year on active duty with the Transatlantic Program Center (a branch of the US Army Corps of Engineers that coordinates the engineer contracting in the Middle East and Africa). Then in 2005, I came on active duty again in response to the disastrous Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans as part of Task Force Unwatering. Our mission was to pump the water out of New Orleans and I served as the U.S. liaison with a German task force who were there pumping water out of the 9th Ward.

My husband, Tom, and I met while we were both Lieutenants at Fort Hood, Texas. We were married in 1991 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Leavenworth. Although Tom was born and raised in Indianapolis, he loved Leavenworth so much that we spent most every long weekend on a road trip here and are now here to stay. He jumped at the offer of a position at Fort Riley in order to return to Kansas. We loved the history of Fort Riley and being back in Kansas. In between serving as the Chief of Personnel Security, doing my reserve duty and traveling to Fort Leavenworth to fight as one of the bad guys during simulated wargames, I managed to volunteer with the Red Cross at Irwin Army Hospital and served on the board of the Historical and Archeological Society of Fort Riley for 2 terms. Then when Tom left Fort Riley on 2 January 2005 for Iraq, I came home to Leavenworth. I started working full time at Fort Leavenworth and volunteered to be the membership chairman of the Leavenworth Historical Museum Association. After a year in Iraq fortune smiled on us, and upon his safe return, Tom actually secured a position at Fort Leavenworth.

In my spare time; I enjoy shooting trap, running marathons, antique shopping and working on historical homes. Tom and I joined the Fort Leavenworth Fox Hunt in 2006 so I am also learning to stay on my horse while racing through the countryside! In January 2007 we bought 129 acres just outside of Leavenworth on Mount Olivet Road, and happily settled down on “the ranch.”

I was elected to the Kansas House as the 40th District Representative in the fall of 2008. I was, and continue to remain, excited about the opportunity to serve my community as your representative and government problem solver. Prior to my election I worked as a defense contractor on Fort Leavenworth. Shortly after assuming my duties in the House I was mobilized by the U.S. Army Reserve served a tour of duty in southern Iraq.  I found my duties in Iraq rewarding and am proud to serve our nation. However, I also looked forward to my return to serving the citizens of the 40th District on a personal level upon my return in 2010.

In January 2010, the precinct men and women of the 40th District re-elected me to the Kansas legislature.