Saundra (or Sandie, as she is affectionately called) has been behind the microphone since 1979, but her introduction to square dancing came almost twenty years earlier.

In 1960, Saundra was inducted into the Hashers Jrs. by her Girl Scout leader and close family friend, Swersie Dumetz Norris.   Swerzie was the caller for both the adult group, the Hashers and the youth group, the Hashers Jrs.  The latter consisted of the offspring, friends, and any other children that could be recruited.  These children's affection for their caller led them to caller "Momma D", what was later shortened to "Mom" by Sandie and several of the other children.

Five years later, the group broke up due to the children's pursuit of higher education.  Sandie's passion for an exact science led her to major in mathematics.  But while Sandie was pursuing an accounting career, square dancing was making drastic changes.  With the inception of Callerlab, the activity became more uniform.  Lists were created, allowing dancers to know that they were responsible for knowing certain calls to be able to dance a certain level.

In 1978, Sandie returned to the activity to enjoy it as a hobby.  Being fully aware of the progress made, she enrolled in a beginners class.  She still remembered a lot of calls, but now they were on various lists and she did not know any list in its entirety.

On the first night of class, Sandie was dancing the beau's position and fixing squares so Swerzie gave her the definitions to study and told her to come to the club level dance in a few days.  Sandie studied the definitions and danced at the club.  Three weeks later, she attended the Michigan State Convention content at dancing the Plus level until she noticed that several members of her contingency had 'disappeared'.  She wandered around and finally found them dancing in the Advanced room.  She became quite perturbed that Swerzie had not given her the Advanced definitions to study.  She vowed, "The next time I sit out will be by choice and not because I don't know a level".

What came next was an intense year of studying.  She bought a set of checkers and began writing sequences to help her with her studying.  She attended the National Convention in Milwaukee WI and was happy dancing C-1 (the highest level being called at the National) but she picked up some flyers advertising C-2, C-3 and C-4 dances.  That just meant more studying.  Something else happened at that convention.  As she danced, she found herself thinking about what call should follow the call she just executed.  Does this material flow well?  "If I were behind the microphone, what would I do?"  So, when she returned home from the convention, she informed Swerzie that she wanted to learn to call.

Swerzie invited some dancers who wanted to improve their Plus dancing and were willing to work with a novice caller.  Under her tutelage, Sandie worked on her calling skills.  To further her knowledge, she attended her first Callerlab in Kansas City MO in the spring of 1980.  There, she not only became familiar with the finer points of calling, but she also developed close friendships with many of her peers.

Sandie called at various local conventions before calling at her first National in Detroit MI in 1982.  Her pursuit of calling did not diminish her desire to dance.  She joined Bill Heimann's tape workshop group and to this day still sets aside one night a week to dance with that group.  It allows her to continually improve her dancing ability by dancing to other callers as well as occasionally dancing to herself which she considers one of her greatest challenges.

Sandie may have immersed herself in the art of square dancing, but the 'Love Bug' was still able to bite.  She met her husband at a square dance in 1985.  He was the president of a local club that had lost their caller.  Albert was informed by some of the members of the club that "Sandy" (note the male spelling of the name) might call for them.  Never having met Sandie, Albert attended a Halloween dance where she was calling, expecting to talk to a man,  Though she was completely covered by a mouse costume, Albert quickly discovered this was no male.  He must have seen through the disguise because after hiring her as the caller for the club, he asked her out on a date.  They were married two years later.

The year 1990 brought about another milestone in Sandie's life.  Her daughter, Alexandra Jeannae was born.  Though Sandie worked through most of her pregnancy, she took maternity leave after seven months when her doctor insisted.  But, never a person to do things in a small way, she went back to calling full time shortly after Alexandra was born,  Her maternity leave ended with her first European assignment, Stockholm, Sweden.  Even though Alexandra was too young to make that trip, she has attended a couple of out-of-town weekends and the 1991 American Advanced and Challenge Convention.