Leadership
Tara Menza
After marrying her husband, Matt Menza, in 2006, Tara spent 15 years managing the Menza household and raising their six children, whose current ages are five through 22. For many of those years, Matt was deployed in the Navy for up to a year at a time.
In addition to managing the Menza household, Tara has volunteered as a military spouse leader and mentor in her community. She has also acted as a doula for the military and church community before moving to Colorado.
In 2018, Tara and her family decided to move to Longmont, Colorado to escape the Seattle area chaos, where they lived after Matt retired from his military career. Upon their arrival in Longmont, Tara decided to take a more active role in the local community. More recently, Tara has been instrumental in handling the business and administrative aspects of Matt’s new aviation business and she ran for State House in 2022.
Tara’s many interests include her family, faith, raising various animals (in addition to her children), volunteering, skiing, mountain biking, and flying with her husband.
Kristen Bara
When she’s not fighting for freedom, she enjoys spending her free time reading and playing the ukulele.
Sandy O'Grady
Sandy’s Dad was in the Air Force for 42 years, so she grew up an “Air Force brat.” When she was barely a year old, Sandy’s family was stationed in Germany during the Berlin Airlift. Sandy’s Dad had survived the Bataan Death March and had been a prisoner of war in Japan for three years, so the AF decided to give him a humanitarian assignment to help him recover mentally and physically. He had been rehabilitated here, at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, after his release from the camps when the war ended. He never ceased loving his country, and he instilled that love in Sandy. Not a day went by that we did not raise and lower the flag in our front yard, no matter where we lived.
After graduating high school, Sandy worked her way through college and graduated from the University of Missouri at Kansas City with a BA in history. She went on to graduate school until Sandy married, and had three children. Sandy was fortunate to not have to work outside my home, so she had time to work with the Boy Scouts and do volunteer work at her children’s schools. Sandy took courses from the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and gave talks at schools in my district. As a member of the Water Garden Society of K. C., Sandy helped build four water/wildlife gardens and helped with their caretaking for years. Sandy also installed bluebird houses and four trails on school property.
Sandy has been a member of the National Society of Miniature Enthusiasts (NAME) since 1977. Since then, she has been building dollhouses and dioramas, winning several awards, and appearing in articles in national miniature magazines. In the last year Sandy’s daughter has designed a website to showcase some of my projects, www.moonlightminiatures.me.
With a lifelong love of American history, Sandy feels strongly about the direction the country is going in. Sandy wants to help return it to the one her father loved and fought for.
