Sandra Schafbuch Gibney was born on September 21, 1948 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She returned home to a farm near Van Horne, Iowa in Benton County where she lived a typical farm youth lifestyle of the time. Her parents farmed 240 acres and raised hogs and cattle so she and her brother and two sisters all grew up helping with chores and fieldwork. She attended Van Horne Community School until her senior year in high school when four small schools in Benton County reorganized and she graduated in a class of 125 from Benton
Community High School in 1966.
Sandra's earliest contact with Iowa State was through the Iowa State Extension Service when she joined the local girls 4-H club, the Union Bluebirds, at age nine. An active member until she graduated from high school, she learned many skills, developed many friendships, and created many memories, all because of the strong 4-H youth program developed by the Extension Service.
After graduating from high school Sandra enrolled at Iowa State University as a student. She lived in Linden Hall her
freshman year and then moved to the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority house for her years on campus. In the summer of 1968 she participated in the Iowa State study abroad program and attended the Instituto Tecnologico in Monterrey, Mexico. This experience was so enriching that to this day Sandra takes her high school Spanish students to Mexico every other year to share with them the Mexican culture, history, people, and language. In November, 1969, Sandra graduated from ISU with a major in Spanish and minors in Education and
Sociology. She then taught Spanish and freshman Language Arts at Lamar High School in Lamar, Missouri for one year.
On November 30, 1970 she married Steven J. Gibney at St. Thomas Aquinas Student Center at Iowa State. Husband Steve also graduated from ISU in May, 1971 and following his graduation, Sandra and Steve moved to north central Iowa where Steve was employed by the Standard Oil Company of Indiana. Sandra and Steve then became owners of an Amoco Oil products distributorship in Britt, Iowa. In 1978 they
moved back to the Cedar Rapids area where Sandra worked for Kirkwood Community College from 1979-1988 teaching English as a Second Language and Adult High School. In 1988 she began teaching Spanish and Language Arts at Norway Community Schools and two years later, in 1990, she returned to her high school alma mater to teach high school Spanish. She continues to teach there today.
Sandra and her husband, Steve, have four children, Shane (10-31-74), Julie (4-23-76), Katie (8-17-79), and Ryan (4-24-83). They
try to visit ISU once a year as a family to keep abreast of the constant changes on campus and to share with their children the spirit of excellence of ISU.
Sandra Schafbuch Gibney
August 1995 |
