Wanda Kazmarek Young Sankary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Wanda Kazmarek; December 22, 1919 – September 2, 2005) was an American lawyer, and politician. She served as a Democratic state legislator in California. Sankary was elected to the California Assembly in 1954 from San Diego. She also went by the name Wanda Y. Sankary.

Early life and education

Wanda Sankary was born with the name Wanda Kazmarek, on December 22, 1919, near

Scranton, North Dakota Scranton is a small town in Bowman County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 258 at the 2020 census. Scranton was founded in 1907 along the Milwaukee Road transcontinental rail line known as the Pacific Extension. It was named aft ...

. She was of Polish heritage. She was born and raised in a sod roofed house on the prairie in North Dakota. Her father was a coal miner. Kazmarek attended Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School (now Wilson Middle School), and Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, California. She continued her education at San Diego State College, University of California, Berkeley, and graduated from UCLA School of Law (class of 1950).

Career

Sankary was elected to the California Assembly in November 1954 from San Diego (AD-79), winning out over Chester E. Schneider. She succeeded

Kathryn Niehouse Kathryn Theresa Niehouse (née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered on ...

. She gave birth the night she was elected. She lost her re-election campaign in 1956. She was active in the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

for over 20 years. In 1976, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the

California State Board of Equalization The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a public agency charged with tax administration and fee collection in the state of California in the United States. The authorities of the Board fall into four broad areas: sales and use taxe ...

Death and legacy

She died on September 2, 2005, in San Diego.

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has a collection of her papers. The

Regional Oral History Office The Oral History Center (ROHO) is part of The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. The office was founded in 1954. ROHO conducts, analyzes, teaches about, and preserves oral history interviews on a wide range of topics rela ...

at the

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at the University of California, Berkeley interviewed her in 1977, part of a series on women legislators. It was released as a book with the title, ''From Sod House to State House'' in 1979. She wrote biographical notes of her life history, which is held at San Diego State University.https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/nas/streaming/dept/scuastaf/collections/AlumniAssociation/MS-0392-04-18-34Sank.pdf

Personal life

She was married to Allen Young in 1942, and he died six months later in war while serving as a pilot in the United States Navy. She was married to Morris Sankary from 1952 to 1972, and the marriage ended in divorce. She had two sons.

Early life and education

Career

Death and legacy

Personal life

See also

References

Further reading