Sandy Inman

Sandy Inman has served the Bountiful community as an educator and historian for over forty years. She spent most of her career as a second-grade teacher at Meadowbrook Elementary and is currently the secretary for the Bountiful Historical Preservation Foundation and director of the Bountiful Museum and Learning Center. Last year, the Bountiful Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers honored Sandy with their “Modern Day Pioneer Award” for her 22 years of service at the Bountiful Museum.

Born in Rock Springs, Wyoming in 1941, Sandy knew from a young age that she wanted to become a teacher. She loved learning and was especially inspired by her third-grade teacher at Yellowstone Elementary. That year, Sandy began collecting and filing scientific articles from magazines such as Look and Life that she believed would be helpful in her future career as a teacher. Soon, her parents had to buy her a filing cabinet to house the articles and other items piling up in boxes around her room.

In 1953, Sandy’s father moved the family to Bountiful after being injured in a coal mine near Rock Springs. Sandy was happy to trade Wyoming’s windy and barren landscape for a mountainside covered in orchards and thought Bountiful was one of the prettiest places she had ever been. As a student, Sandy was dedicated to her studies and developed a love for her community. She graduated from Bountiful High School in 1959 and served as senior class secretary—a role she still fulfills by planning reunions and keeping up with her classmates.

Sandy graduated from the University of Utah in elementary education in 1963 and began teaching at Ensign Elementary in Salt Lake City. As a young and enthusiastic teacher, she meticulously filed away contact information for all her students and an essay each had written about themselves. As her students graduated from high school, they received a handmade graduation card with the essay or a photo tucked inside. She continued this throughout her 28 years as a teacher.

After the birth of her daughter in 1967, Sandy left Ensign Elementary but continued her career as an educator by working at a preschool, running her own private kindergarten, and giving piano and organ lessons. In 1981, she returned to teaching as an aide in the Behavior Unit at J.A. Taylor Elementary in Bountiful and was later hired to teach at Meadowbrook Elementary. In her 21 years at Meadowbrook, Sandy received the Davis School District “Hall of Fame” teaching award, earned a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Utah, and helped write a grant to set up an “outdoor classroom” by Barton Creek. During her last several years of teaching, Sandy visited each student before the new school year so that they would be more comfortable on the first day in her classroom. When teaching community history, she was disappointed that there wasn’t a museum in Bountiful where she could take her students. Sandy decided that when she retired, she would help get a museum for Bountiful.

Sandy has volunteered on the Bountiful Museum Board since its inception in 2002 and serves as secretary on the Bountiful Historical Preservation Foundation. She was twice appointed to serve on the Bountiful City Historical Commission and has written Utah State grants to help restore Governor Mabey’s home and Smedley Manor. Since 2017, Sandy has served as the Bountiful Museum Director where she catalogs acquisitions, curates displays, trains and supervises docents, and coordinates visiting groups. In this position, she has also written grants to create historical videos for use at the museum, improve museum facilities, and move the Jeremiah Willey cabin to its final location.  Sandy appreciates Bountiful City, individual donors, and the volunteers who have made the Bountiful Museum possible.

She has been married to Michael Inman for 61 years. They raised their three children in Bountiful and have six grandchildren. Her favorite moments are making memories with her family.