A native of St. Augustine and 1958 Ketterlinus High School (KHS) graduate, Sandra Parks is the daughter of Richard and Mary Belle (Chilton) Parks. Richard was the music instructor at The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, owned a juke box business and was elected on the County Commission for 24 years.  Mary was a staff sergeant of the Women’s Civil Defense Corps during WWII.

Sandra and her sister Donna grew up on 18 St. George Street next to the family owned Parks Hotel.

Sandra won the Latin award her freshman year at KHS and was a member of the National Beta Club. She joined Tri-Hi-Y, which met at the YMCA and became a leader in the local chapter of the Rainbow Girls.

While at the University of Florida, Sandra met and married her first husband John Wing. They left Gainesville and after a brief stint at St. Simon’s Island moved to Lakeland Florida after their daughter Nancy was born. Her son John and daughter Jennifer were soon born while Sandra was finishing her degrees in English, with a minor in religion, at Florida Southern College. Sandra would join the Lakeland Human Relations Council in efforts to bring about racial integration in the community.  In 1971, Sandra helped organize a concert by a Black Choral Group at Florida Southern College, the first time that white and blacks in equal numbers attended the same cultural event in Lakeland.

Sandra returned to St. Augustine and, in 1981, opened a catalog business and bookstore called Thinking Works.  She is the current owner of Anastasia Books on San Marco Avenue. In 1983, Sandra became more actively involved politically. She was elected to the St. Augustine City Commission where she worked on various projects such as location of the library at Davenport Park and the Tourism Development Tax.  Sandra is co-author of many instructional materials and teacher manuals designed to improve students’ thinking skills. She has served as a curriculum consultant to school districts on thinking instruction and gifted/talented education in 40 states, Virgin Islands and two Canadian Provinces.   She has served as instructor for Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD) and author of articles for ASCD books and Educational Leadership magazine. She is also the founding co-director for National Center for Teaching Thinking. She received a certificate of advanced study (education specialist) from Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Sandra has served on many local boards and organizations including Florida Heritage Book Festival, Ft. Mose Historical Society and Florida Historical Society.  She is a founding director for the Stetson Kennedy Foundation, an organization established in memory of her late husband and civil rights activist, Stetson Kennedy. Sandra recently was awarded the Living Legends Awards from Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center.