The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Meet Your Neighbor

by Deb Olson, The Quill

Meet your neighbor Sandra Fullerton-Moody of Oquawka, who is currently Oquawka Village President and has served in that capacity for over 2 1/2 years.

Sandra was born in Oquawka and has lived there all her life. Her parents were Clarence and Helen (Sterett) Vaughan , who are now deceased. Sandra had one sister, Carolyn J. Vaughan who was married to Paul David Dehner. Her sister is also deceased but her brother-in-law lives in Burlington, Iowa.

Sandra graduated from the former G & O High School then attended college at Western Illinois University.

She was always active in school sports such as baseball. She was a catcher. She liked basketball, volleyball etc.

In those days girls did not have the opportunity to play against other schools.

She believes that girls today do not realize how fortunate they are to excel in sports. Sandra was also involved in band and choral singing when in school.

Sandra's first husband was Lawrence R. Fullerton who passed away in 1998. Lawrence and Sandra had a daughter Kelly, who married William M. Snyder Jr and they had three daughters Cassie, Madeleine and Shannon.

Her daughter Kelly is now deceased. Her grand-daughters are all in college. Her son-in-law lives in Downers Grove.

Ten years ago Sandra was re-married to William A. Moody Jr. of Muscatine Iowa. His last working position was at Slay Industries in Muscatine, IA. He has also been an over the road hauler of heavy equipment and before that worked in the oil refinery business around Chicago. He is the father of three sons who live in the Joliet area.

Sandra has worked since she was 10 years old. First she worked for her parents in the commercial fishing business shipping jumplines. It was a daily routine.

She then worked at the Oquawka Diner, Hamilton's grocery store, Bank of Oquawka and Gamble Skogmo. Lastly she worked at CNH for 38 years.

Sandra and her husband attend the First Christian Church in Monmouth.

Every Sunday morning they go to three Outreach services at Legacy, Courtyard and either Costello or Oak Terrace.

She plays the piano and her husband leads the singing. She says, "There are about 60 people who are happy to see us. It makes their day and ours too."

Both Sandra and William take guitar lessons, raise perennial flowers and enjoy their koi pond.

As far as their travels, Sandra and her husband have traveled to Asheville, NC where he was born. They also attended his school reunion at Union Mills, NC. They are considering a short cruise at some point.

Sandra believes she has a good outlook on life. She feels her time as Oquawka Village president has been interesting and "never a dull moment". She believes the town has made strides with more to go.

About Oquawka, she says, "There are a lot of good people who live here and everyone is trying their personal best to make this a better place to live."

Regarding Sandra's future plans she says, "Bill and I live our lives one day at a time and enjoy every moment."