Former Okie indulges passions for helping people, racing fast cars and wearing eccentric red hats

March 11, 2005

BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter

Sharlotte Sandstede has spent years serving her country and her community.

She's served in the military for 11 years, spending time recently in Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Enduring Freedom, and became the Alaska Air National Guard's 2003 Alaska Airman of the Year.

Sandstede works with and for kids, is a registered respiratory therapist by trade and has two jobs. She is also an emergency medical technician.

But not everything in her life is serious - she still finds time to wear frivolous red hats and race cars - with the help of her husband and a friend, she is constructing her own '73 Chevy Malibu to run at North Star Speedway.

Born in Okmulgee, Okla., 31 years ago, Sandstede spent some of her time growing up on the Cherokee reservation in Tahlequah, Okla., but then moved to Henryetta, Okla., where she grew up. Her maiden name is Floyd, and she says she is a close relative of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, the famous outlaw. She still has pictures of her dad and Floyd playing cowboys and Indians.

After high school, Sandstede attended several colleges, learning the field of respiratory therapy. She joined the Army when she was 21, spending eight years there, then went into the Army National Guard and later, the Air National Guard, working in the 176th Medical Group as an aerospace medical health care technician.

She is proud to have been named the Alaska Air Guard's 2003 Airman of the Year, and as a result of that, went on to win an honorable mention in the running for Airman of the Year, nationally. She said she has stayed in the military for so long because she really feels satisfaction at serving her country and she thinks she's pretty good at it. Sandstede plans to end her military career at the end of this year.

Sandstede works for ServiceMaster, cleaning the Lithia Chevrolet dealership, which was formerly Tony Chevrolet. She also works for LINKS-Mat-Su's parent resource center, which helps families that have children with special needs, and she is training to become a CASA (court-appointed special advocate) worker for children.

"I was in the CASA program as a teen-ager, so I know firsthand from the other side what these kids are going through," she said. "I didn't really grow up in the best environment, so I am doing all this because I would like to help at least one child. What I really want is to make a difference, to give back to the community."

Sandstede also serves on the advisory council for the Boys and Girls Club.

Sandstede came to Alaska four years ago, from Tulsa, Okla., after meeting her husband, Chad, on the Internet. He has been in the military for 13 years and was sent to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks after Operation Desert Storm. He now works as a recruiter in Wasilla.

Chad was into racing and they were trying to expand the all-women division at North Star Speedway.

"I started racing because Chad was the chief technical inspector for North Star and I wanted to know why he was spending so much time at the track," she said. "So, I went down there and they have their girlfriends or wives with no experience in racing just hop in the cars and race each other. Well, one of the baby grand drivers said, 'Your wife can drive my car if she wants to,' so I got in and after I raced around for a while, I got out and just had this big grin from ear to ear. I said, 'I want one of these,' and it just started from there."

A "baby grand" is a five-eighths scale model of a Winston Cup race car. Since beginning last year, Sandstede has won a couple of races and keeps her trophies in a display case at Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage.

On her new car, she is letting the Boys and Girls Club paint an ad, as a gift to them, and some of the CASA kids will get to paint one of the quarter-panels. "Some of them are pretty gifted artists," she said.

Sandstede is also a member of the Red Hat Society.

"This is for women to get together and wear nice hats and just enjoy being girls. We take our silliness very seriously," she said.

The Valley chapter of the society is known as the "Vibrant Valley Divas" and Sandstede's royal name within the society is "Princess Keely Godfrey." She says it is an Irish name that means "beautiful peace."

Sandstede knows she's a good health-care worker, but feels she is in a transitional stage and needs to work more toward the field of human services, to help serve her community.

With all the seriousness in her life, Sandstede can at least find a release in wearing silly hats and driving fast cars.

"When I go out and buy my own baby grand, it's going to be a long drive home with my husband that night," she said.