"I see God in everything around me. The presence, spirit and guidance of God are all around us. In the face of every child, every person, in the beauty of every view, in reconciliation and redemption, in kindness and laughter, we can seek and find God always near and within the mystery that God will always keep." These are the theology and guiding beliefs of Sandy Prouty, Montview's gentle, thoughtful, and committed Minister to Children and Families.
Sandy was born in Greeley, but she grew up in Grover on a ranch on the short grass prairie of northeastern Colorado. Her nearest neighbors were many miles away. The ranch was called "The Oasis" because it had its own spring that provided water for a large grove of trees. This grove was a landmark on the flat, dry landscape. Throughout her childhood, Sandy helped with the crops and the animals. Caring for and riding the horses on the ranch were her favorite pastimes. Sandy loved animals so much that she actually became mainly a vegetarian as soon as she could make her own decisions about food. It was not a completely popular decision with her ranching family! Another aspect of this life so close to the land, was being alone a lot. She had plenty of time to notice the small details of the world which brought her to God and prompted her interest in beauty, creativity and art. A farmer at heart, Sandy still loves nurturing and growing things - plants, children, friendships.
Sandy survives her mother, father and a younger brother. She is the mother of two daughters, Emily and Ann; two sons, David and Michael; and has two sons-in-law, Austin and Rob. Her first grandchild, Alden James, is the son of Ann and Austin and is six months old. These are the most important people in the world to her.
Although she works in Denver, Sandy lives in and commutes to Montview from Loveland. She has always been a Colorado girl, never having lived outside our state. She has lived in Boulder, Arvada, Louisville, and Denver. Her education through high school was in Grover, and her undergraduate and graduate degrees were earned at UNC in Greeley (B.A in Art and Education, M.A. in Education).
Prior to coming to Montview, Sandy was, among other things, a K-3 British Infant School classroom teacher, an art teacher, a school administrator, a workshop leader and a paralegal. Her favorite "job" to date was raising her four children, though it was more pure pleasure than any "job" could ever be. Montview is a close second however! For several years, she taught art in a lower-income bilingual school and in an upper income private school. She worked with the poorest children who didn't even have crayons at home and with exceptionally wealthy children who went to Egypt for spring break. This lived contrast gave her daily lessons in the innate goodness of all children, the deep and universal value of the creative process and the many ways that love can be shared. These years broke her heart in countless ways. But, these years pushed her to and prepared her for work in the church
Before becoming a member of Montview in January 2002, the only church options for Sandy were either very conservative or very contemporary. Neither met all her hopes and dreams. In early 2002, a friend who knew she was looking for a progressive and traditional church told her she should check out Montview. On the first day she attended Montview, between the sidewalk and the sanctuary, the people she met, the things being advertised, and the things being talked about, all gave Sandy a really good feeling about Montview and, when she stepped from the narthex into the sanctuary, she knew that she was "home". She became involved with the Arts Guild and, one day while hanging art, she happened to see a job description for a new position at Montview. The description seemed to list all the things she had been doing in her life up to that point - administration, theology, education, working with children, art, and the list went on and on. She asked Bill Calhoun about the position and he encouraged her to apply. She did and, in July, 2002, to our good fortune, she got the job, and has been with us ever since.
Sandy says that working at Montview is the most rewarding job she has ever had (except for being a mother, of course!). The creativity and energy that is present in the individual members of the current Montview staff foster energy and creativity in all the staff, and Sandy says is a wonderful, joyful experience to be a part of it. She feels that the staff is a supportive, creative team that works closely to make a very complex organization run smoothly. It requires remarkable communication and coordinated attention to details as well as a grounded and loving commitment to God and to the people of Montview. On this team, Sandy prefers to listen, rather than talk, as she processes what she sees and hears, and then tries to be clear and sincere in her comments and suggestions
Sandy describes herself in Myers-Briggs terminology as an INFP - she is basically an introvert, who is an intuitive, perceptive and feeling person. Like John Kuzma, who once told her that he learned to be more extroverted to fill some of the roles of his life, Sandy has learned to be more extroverted to do her job at Montview. Although she is a night person at heart, Sandy says she has learned to be, and actually enjoys, being a morning person, especially Sunday mornings and, when the Montview Community Preschool and Kindergarten School is in session and the children fill the upper floors near her office with their laughter and energy! For Sandy, dawn is her favorite time of day for meditation and prayer. In the gentle light and stillness of morning, she can immerse herself in the beauty and wonder of creation, say silent prayers to the God of All, and be renewed in love and energy for a new day.
So how did Sandy get started with childhood education? As she was growing up, one teacher in a Grover day school taught all by herself, all day long, 5 days a week. As a sophomore in high school, Sandy was asked if she would help so the teacher could have a break for lunch. Sandy loved being with and teaching children and decided being an educator was what she wanted to do. However, although Sandy is "all about children and youth", she has not succumbed to the allure felt by some young people - that of tattoos and body piercing -- only her ears are pierced!
Sandy's hobbies include art, poetry, and running. From her earliest memories, Sandy's attention to detail led her to art, which she has enjoyed in many forms all her life. Primarily, her creations are for herself, created out of her love for beauty and synergy, where things come together to form something other than and more than their individual selves. She says her creativity is not a quick on/off option, though she often does try to enable it through preplanning, such as gathering materials, thoughts and memories which may allow ideas to percolate up in her mind but, ultimately, it is God's hands that take control of her hands for the creation. As an artist, Sandy has had several small shows and has sold a few pieces, though this is not the goal of her art making. Her pieces are very personal, expressing her experiences and feelings. Though she doesn't collect tattoos, Sandy does enjoy collecting other things, like running shoes, things "of nature" (rocks and seeds and leaves), and the friendships of people.
Besides running, Sandy always enjoys being with her own adult children and her grandson, or with any child, because "children are so full of energy and innocence and opportunity. They have so many lessons to teach us all, if we only take the time to see and listen and learn."
Sandy's movie-going includes many movies 'supposedly' made for children, but which she says hold life-lessons for both children and adults. Not surprisingly, Sandy follows movies which children are seeing, to know what children are watching. Recently she has enjoyed both "The Minions Movie" and "Inside Out". Her television watching includes "The Good Wife", "Madam Secretary"; many shows on PBS and the BBC, like "Downton Abbey", "Poldark", "Wolf Hall", "Mr. Selfridge"; and Frontline episodes which present in-depth reports on contemporary issues. In the realm of movies for adults, she loves life stories and stories of time travel. "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "The Thorn Birds" are two of her favorite movies.
Sandy also loves music and attending the symphony and musicals with friends - "it's always better to attend with friends". When Sandy was a child, maybe 6 or 7 years old, the store where her family bought groceries would give away a phonograph record if you purchased a certain dollar amount of groceries. One record was Rachmaninoff's 1st Concerto and, when she listened to it, Sandy was "awestruck, maybe dumbstruck". She says it was unbelievably compelling and the notes "simply reached into my heart". Sandy studied piano and her children studied piano,
violin, viola, and trumpet, collectively. Later in life, Sandy studied the lives of musicians and artists and discovered that these lives were often hard lives, filled with pain and sorrow. She is
intrigued by the possible common boundary of suffering, creativity and faith.
Sandy has always loved to create, and at one point in her life she was writing at least three poems a day; not carefully crafted according to the rules of rhyme and meter, but more free flowing word-thoughts, to study, to commemorate, and to note the details of her life and the world around her. And, she would someday like to write a book. When asked, "a book of poetry?", "a book on art?", "on what subject or topic?", she answered, "Perhaps another attempt to explain the deep, universal places of the human experience where words almost don't apply". She believes the world is full of God's grace, mystery, wonder and magnificence and that human stories are filled with the common threads of these. She wants to work with these universals in a book including poetry, prayers and vivid expressions of the synergy of the world and the constant presence of God.
When talking about books, Sandy says that when she is in a book store, books often "find her". Sometimes, intuitively, or as if by being led by an invisible hand, she seems drawn to certain books without ever having heard about them before, but which end up being intensely interesting to her. Several recent titles she has enjoyed are "Awareness" by Anthony DeMello; "Rising Strong" by Brine Brown; "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stephenson; Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates; and "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami. She recently finished "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr, a novel about a blind French girl and a German boy during World War II, and "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace", the story of a young man who escaped the Newark ghetto to attend Yale, and then returned to Newark. She also often refers to the Book of Confessions, for personal spiritual guidance and as a reference for her work.
As all subjects of these articles, Sandy was asked about the most recent spontaneous thing she has done. It was a trip to New York City to visit her son, Michael, who is a musician at heart, an excellent pianist, and a lover of musicals. Sandy thought about these things, thought about the musical "Hamilton", bought two tickets to the Broadway production of it, bought a plane ticket to New York and called Michael to say they were going to see "Hamilton". Just on the spur of the moment. Outlandish and wonderful! They spent time taking in the City scene and just being together.
Now, about that running. Sandy has been a runner for years. As the mother of four young children under the age of 7, running was the only form of exercise she could fit into the family schedule. At first, she was a recreational runner, running just to move and breathe in body, mind and spirit. Then, she ran a race. She came in very close to last but just finishing the miles felt
like an accomplishment she wanted to repeat. Then she became a more serious runner. Then a SERIOUS runner -- like half-marathons and marathons. That's 13.1 and 26.2 MILES, respectively. She has run six marathons to date. She qualified for the Boston Marathon at the Portland Marathon years ago. Portland will always be a favorite course! Most recently she ran the New York City Marathon in 2014 and the Chicago Marathon in October, 2015. (If you don't see Sandy in Church in the fall, look for her name in the paper soon thereafter!) Sandy's running
is also a spiritual practice. It provides time to be humbled by the life force and beauty of
Creation; to feel connected between earth and sky; and to mark a real and timeless rhythm across this life she has been given. Running has helped her to process the many emotions of life including grief. She once ran a few miles each day for seven days in a row after the death of a Jewish friend, saying goodbye and giving thanks for his life with every step.
What is Sandy passionate about? Her immediate first answer was one word "Children". She has always loved being with children, being a mother, being a teacher of children, and teaching parents and other adults about children. She is also passionate about nutrition and how it affects our development as children and sets a tone for our entire lives. And she is passionate about people and the possibility of compromise and positive outcomes in human relations. Nothing is ever all black or all white to Sandy; nothing is ever all good or all bad. She sees God's presence in the good, the black, the white, the bad, in everything. Sandy is always concerned about equality and inequality for all people - gender differences, economics differences, races differences, nationality differences, age differences, opportunity differences, education differences -- she says, "You name it, and there are inequality issues, that could be addressed and healed. God created all of us and everything around us. God love us all equally, wants us to be happy, and wants us to share." [Brings back memories of kindergarten: "Can you say 'share'?"]
What keeps her up at night? Sandy says "concern for others'. She thinks about those who "fight the good fight' against all or unfair odds; those who are striving to keep the faith in a trying world. Remember those inequalities mentioned earlier? -- they pop up, too. Sandy cares deeply, to the point of halting voice and damp eyes, about all God's Creation. She loves children, her family, her church, her job, the earth and all the people and animals on it.
Sandy loves to travel and, though she has been to Europe, she would love to visit again. And, because family is so important to her, Sandy's last out of town trip was to Portland, Oregon to see her daughter. And, neither she nor her children will ever forget the graduation trip to Paris she took with all her children, to celebrate all their past and future graduations.
Condensing her favorite things into the idea of what she'd take if she knew she'd be marooned on an island, Sandy's list included photo albums of her children, a Bible, and her running shoes. As for who she'd like to take along, her list included her family, Kevin Costner ("He is SO good looking! Such a great jaw line. And the characters he plays!!") and one of the winners of a survival reality show. And, it wouldn't hurt to have Sergei Rachmaninoff there, either.
Did you know that our Sandy has secrets? Did you know that she is a thrill-seeker? Did you know that she likes to get a rush? Well, the secret is out! Sandy Prouty loves to slalom water ski! She hasn't had the chance recently, but slalom skiing is one of her favorite things and biggest thrills. Anybody got a boat???
Sandy's parting words are ones of gratitude. She says that it could seem to be just a coincidence that she saw the job description that day in the Commons. But she believes it was a "God-cidence", a term her friend, Pam Johnston, uses in place of coincidence. Every day she experiences the wonder of being at Montview Church. She is constantly overjoyed and humbled by the remarkable group of people on the staff and in the congregation, and she knows that her being here with us was "meant to be". And we are fortunate to have her with us.
