Meet 2017 Volunteer of the Year Sandee Rudnick!

At the March 3 Volunteer Luncheon, held at the Hilton Hotel in Santa Fe, El Rancho de las Golondrinas was proud to announce the 2017 Volunteers of the Year! Again this year, the award was given to two outstanding volunteers: Ron Goodman and Sandee Rudnick.

Twelve years ago, a dear friend of Sandee’s gave her a private, off-season tour of El Rancho de las Golondrinas. She was so enthusiastic that they spent an entire day wandering around and discussing the history of what they saw. The following summer, Sandee started to volunteer every Wednesday and she still comes on Wednesdays today. The beauty of the landscape draws her back each year, and the fun of meeting with visitors keeps her here. Those rare moments of conversations that open up new ideas of what life was like before, the questions that stretch Sandee’s knowledge and force her to put historical facts and logical ideas together to make sense to both the visitor and her, continue to excite her. On special days or for special projects, Sandee’s husband of more than fifty years, Jon, joins her at the Ranch.

In 1956, both her husband’s family and hers came to live and work in Los Alamos.  After high school, Jon and Sandee went away to college, got married, went to Kenya with the Peace Corps, did more college, and then lived in six other states and traveled to numerous other countries. Thirteen years ago, Jon retired and they were able to come back home full-time to New Mexico. Their son and his family live in Denver and their daughter and her husband live in Santa Fe but work in Los Alamos. When not at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, Sandee conducts guided tours at the Santa Fe Opera, volunteers helping to house the collections at the New Mexico History Museum, answers questions about Santa Fe and New Mexico at the Bienvenidos information booth on the Plaza, and assists people with their taxes for AARP.

We extend our congratulations to Sandee on being named 2017 Co-Volunteer of the Year!