Born Sandra Kay Martin, on December 10, 1952, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Leroy (Chick) Martin and Marjorie Lee Salmon Martin.  Sandi was the youngest of five children, 3 brothers and one sister.  The family moved frequently usually in Kansas City but sometimes they lived with her Grandmother Charlotte Martin, in Westville, OK.  Chick and Marjorie separated in January of 1961 and Marjorie moved with the five children to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  She graduated from Central High School on May 25, 1971 and married her boyfriend of four years on Saturday, May 29, 1971.  They lived the first two years of their marriage at Ramey Air Force in Puerto Rico.

Her first child, Rebecca Diane Ford, was born April 26, 1979 followed 5 years later by Cody Allen Ford, on September 26, 1984.