Sai Estep
September 27, 2022
As part of ongoing activities associated with the Boone 150 celebrations in 2022, marking the 150th anniversary of Boone’s official incorporation as a town on January 23, 1872, the Watauga County Historical Society (WCHS) has established the Watauga County Historical Society Hall of Fame. Throughout 2022, WCHS will name twelve individuals or groups—one each month—as members of the inaugural class of the WCHS Hall of Fame. For the month of September 2022, the WCHS is delighted to announce that Sandra Marie Hagler (1948-2021) has been named as the next inductee of this inaugural class of the WCHS Hall of Fame.
Embodying the image of nurturer, Sandra (Sandy) Marie Hagler made her mark on the Junaluska community and greater Watauga County through her many years of nursing and the strength of her community ties. This innate sense of kinship and interest in history served Sandy well as she took up the charge to preserve the culture and history of the Junaluska community through the Junaluska Heritage Association, which she co-founded.
Along with her twin sister, Andrea Louise Goins, Sandy was born on May 21, 1948, in Bristol, Tennessee. She, her twin, two other sisters, and two brothers grew up in the Junaluska community, where she described an atmosphere of warmth in her oral history conducted by Appalachian State University in 2010. While enjoying a sense of community in the all-Black Watauga Consolidated School, Sandy described herself as a serious student and said that most of her classmates were also serious and competitive when it came to school performance. However, she and her sister Roberta Jackson have both stated that there were issues for Sandy once she attended the newly integrated Watauga County High School, as the abrupt change was a shock to students who had no prior experience with integrated classrooms.
Sandy’s life in nursing started upon enrolling in Caldwell Community College’s nursing program, where she earned her associate’s degree. From there she was employed by the nursing home at Glenbridge (then known as Glenstone), and then at Appalachian State University, where she worked in Student Health. She attained her RN to BSN degree through Winston Salem State University’s satellite program in Boone, which was operated by Phoebe Pollitt. Phoebe remembers Sandy fondly from her days of instructing her, and describes Sandy as an all-A student, who was “kind, intelligent, and dedicated” with a “good sense of humor, and open to new ideas.” This embracing of new ideas is illustrated in Sandy’s oral history statement in which she describes the changing technological landscape, and her acceptance of the ubiquity of computers in today’s work: “I don't know how anybody could make it these days without a computer, and the access [to] your work, there's just so much less paperwork. The paperwork--it would be crazy if you had to do it all by hand the way we used to do. That I love. I don't know how anybody could live without a computer.”
Sandy went on to work at the Watauga County Health Department, where she stayed until her retirement in 2010. It is thought that Sandy was likely one of, if not the first Black public health nurse in the Appalachian District Health Department. Her important role as one of a few public health nurses of color in the area provided much needed representation of the Black community in healthcare. Roberta Jackson also shared that Sandy’s medical knowledge came in handy to her family members and friends in Junaluska.
Sandy’s caring nature went beyond the medical field and was also exemplified in her active role in the Junaluska community. In addition to opening her home up to friends and family that she welcomed in and cooked for, she also ensured that no one in the neighborhood wanted for anything, providing “Meals on the Hill” (a name that plays off the nationwide “Meals on Wheels” program). The Hill is what the Junaluska Community is sometimes referred to, due to its location on steep terrain above Boone. Sandy’s involvement at the Boone Mennonite Brethren Church included singing in the choir as an accomplished soloist, and also forming the Lydia Society with Roberta Jackson, an all-women missionary group that focused on community outreach. Roberta stated that the Lydia Society, “was there to help people, and to be there for people when they needed something.”
Hagler Family Portrait, L to R: Roberta Hagler Jackson, Mary Ann Hagler, Sandra Marie Hagler, Kathryn Margaret Wilson Hagler, Robert Hagler, Jr., and Louise Hagler, circa 1990s. Image courtesy of the Junaluska Heritage Association Collection, Digital Watauga Project.
A keen interest in the subject of history–and a talent for preserving it–led to Sandy and her sister Roberta being nominated as 2013’s High Country Women of the Year by All About Women Magazine for their efforts in preservation. Roberta thinks that Sandy’s motivation to document Junaluska’s history began around the time of their uncle's death. At the funeral, many folks came from all around to pay their respects, sparking Sandy’s interest to find out, “where did we all come from?” From there, her genealogy efforts led her to co-found the Junaluska Heritage Association with its aim to preserve their culture. Using sources such as courthouse deeds and Ancestry.com, Sandy was instrumental in the research conducted for the Boone cemetery marker, which lists Junaluska residents buried there. She was often referred to as the “neighborhood historian.”
Her historical interests encompassed not only documenting family trees, but also included uncovering hidden stories and narratives that weren’t readily known by Boone’s residents. For example, in Susan Keefe’s book Junaluska: Oral Histories of a Black Appalachian Community, Sandy shares that she was interested in writing a drama about the lynching of two Horton men in 1932, which included warrantless searches of Junaluska homes. “I would like to write a drama about the Horton incident…It was horrible for the people in this community. It shows how Black people were separate from the rest of the town, and [White] mobs came and searched through homes and scared people. Women and children were screaming…It’s a part of history that has never been told. There was an account in the newspapers, but of course they were speaking from the White point of view.” One thing that makes Sandy’s story so remarkable is not only having a gift for nurturing and kindness, but also the unflinching strength it takes to speak up about the darker parts of Boone’s history, while also celebrating her community’s place in it. Her willingness to address the stories that have been buried by others is commendable. We couldn’t say it better than she did herself when stating, “It’s one thing to want to believe this or that, but when you see the actual truth, you have to just take it in.”
Sadly, Sandy passed away on September 2, 2021, and while she is dearly missed by her loved ones, her legacy lives on through her lifetime of community activism and efforts as culture-keeper for the Junaluska community. Her sister Roberta fondly remembers Sandy as “a very strong woman; and I loved her to death. You could depend on her.” The WCHS and Digital Watauga will always be grateful to Sandy for her valuable contributions to the project, and will treasure the fact that her work with the Junaluska Heritage Association will live on for future generations to enjoy and better understand the history of this unique community. Still, the author of this post would’ve loved the chance to meet Sandy and try her punchbowl cake.
The WCHS Hall of Fame honors individuals, either living or dead, who have made significant and lasting contributions to Watauga County's history and/or literature, including those whose efforts have been essential to the preservation of Watauga County's history and/or literature. Honorees need not have been residents of Watauga County. The WCHS is particularly interested in honoring individuals who meet the above criteria but who may have been overlooked in traditional accounts of Watauga County's history and literature, including women and people of color. Selections for this inaugural class were made from nominations submitted by members of the Digital Watauga Project Committee (DWPC) of the WCHS. Beginning in 2023, the WCHS will also consider nominations from members of the public, which in turn will be evaluated by the DWPC.