About the author

about the author

Sandra a Haynes 

Sandra Haynes was born in New Orleans, LA, to a humble family of four: two loving parents and one sister, two years her senior. During her childhood, she grew up in the culture of southern foods, Christian values, racial disturbance, and Mardi Gras. She attended the public school system until seventh grade, when she transferred to her church’s parochial system until her graduation from college in Tennessee in which she majored in English.

Sandra trained to be an English teacher and taught in the high school level, jr. high level, and later, after taking her Masters Degree, was a principal of an elementary school.  She then went on to teach Writing and a course for aspiring teachers in a local jr. college for over twenty years before retiring.Being early impressed by Christian values and her responsibility to God, she was baptized at the age of eleven and wrote her first poem at the age of twelve. She had been sitting on a daybed in her upstairs room on the Sabbath day, and at sunset, she was inspired by the flamboyant beauty of the colors to write down her impressions. This was her first poem:

The sky is likened to a pot of gold; the clouds like billows toss over and roll,The world, so fresh, so sweet, so clear, so let us love God, our Savior dear.He came to earth to save from sin and woe, so with Him to heaven, we might go.So let us watch and pray alway, for no man knoweth the hour or day.

This poem was the beginning of her writing career. In her college studies, Sandra especially enjoyed the romantic poets. One of her favorite books while growing up was “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, in which she imagined herself to be the character of Jo, the tomboy in the story. Both she and her sister were fascinated when watching the crowning of Queen Elizabeth as she ascended the throne of England as a young woman after her father’s death. The English royals continue to be a point of interest even today.

While in her first teaching position in a high school, one of Sandra’s students was eager to have her meet her older male cousin and invited her to dinner to meet him. The two got acquainted, and at the end of the school year in the summer, they were married. At the time of their marriage, they lived in California. After a year had passed, they decided that they would move

to Oregon so that they could live in a more rural area and raise the children which they hoped to have.Sandra taught for a year after they moved to Oregon and then became pregnant for their first child, a girl. Her husband, an electrical contractor, was asked to travel for several years with a company that was building nursing homes, which they ended up doing. The first trip they would take was to Idaho. After that was completed, they moved to the Portland, OR, area for the next two or three projects, during which their second child, a boy, was born. As it happened, the children are three years apart and have the same birthday.

After several years of travel, the family moved to the Roseburg, OR, area and built their first home in Glide, a small community a few miles from Roseburg. Four years later, they would move into their more permanent home of forty-seven and a half years. They have since moved closer to town into a smaller home for convenience. Their children have both married and have moved away. Their daughter is a physician, and their son is a master electrician.

When Sandra started working at the local college, she learned how to run the computer through her helpful staff members and would venture out writing her first book of poetry, Of Butterflies and Men. To date, she has now written and published twelve books of poetry: Perspective, Reflections, The Things That Matter, Words for the Soul, Words for the Wise, Harbingers of the Apocalypse, From Where I Stand, Poems to Ponder, Of Butterflies and Men, Contemplation, Viewpoint, and The Lighthouse, her most recent book. Most of the poems are written in a regular rhyme and rhythm style, rather than in free verse. Sandra’s career also includes the writing of two songs: “Sing the Songs of Zion” and “No Friend Like Jesus”, and writing new words for the music, “Ave Maria”, which she titled “Gracious Redeemer,” and “The Holy City”, which she titled “At Calvary”. She has also painted over one hundred pictures in the medium of acrylic paint.

Sandra’s topics for her writing are reflections of God and the Bible, themes from religious books, nature, human relationships, Christmas, and romance. Woven throughout her books is a focus on right living, gleaned from religious perspective. Her purpose is to use her talent of writing to honor God and Biblical concepts in a practical and relevant way in today’s society. She is inspired by the concept in 1 Corinthians 4:7 which says, “What do you have that you have not received?” Because of this, she hopes to use her writing to be a blessing to others as they travel the road of life.