BY MARIA PREKEGES
Sandy Elaine Worthington Cady learned she’d been named to be the Wagon Days Parade grand marshal when she met with Ketchum Mayor Nina Jonas on an alternate matter.
“When I turned in my retirement letter to the mayor, she asked me to be grand marshal and I cried,” Cady said. “I am so honored and excited.”
Cady, an employee of the City of Ketchum for the past 42 years, will retire in November.
A Wood River Valley native, Cady was born in the Sun Valley Lodge when the hospital was located there, and grew up in Ketchum. She began working for the city right after graduating from Wood River High School in 1974, when it was still located in Old Hailey.
“I had taken office occupation in high school; I wanted to work with numbers and finance,” Cady said. “Bill Brand was mayor when I started, then Jerry Seiffert, because Bill couldn’t be mayor and fire chief at the same time.”
Cady worked as deputy clerk treasurer until 1988, then was city treasurer clerk, and in 2015 became finance director.
She also worked with mayors Larry Young, Dan Hamilton, Guy Coles, David Hutchinson, Ed Simon, Randy Hall and now Nina Jonas.
“Working with all the mayors, councilmembers, city administrators, my staff and city employees has been wonderful,” Cady said. “I love what I do and I love working for the citizens of Ketchum.”
This will not be the first time Cady has been in the Big Hitch Wagon Days Parade.
“One of my favorite memories of the Wagon Days Parade was riding in the parade with my dad (Mel Worthington) when I was young,” Cady said. “I also always loved watching the ore wagons coming down the street, and still do.”
In the early sixties, Cady remembers riding with her sister, Denise Wilson, in their own little buggy.
“She drove,” Cady said. “I was the passenger and we had matching outfits and leather gloves. Our dad rode next to us.”
Cady is married to Tim Cady. His daughter, Diane Cady, and her husband, Sam Heiney, are the parents of their grandchildren, Ben and Maggie.
Mayor Jonas said she was fortunate to work with Sandy before she retired.
“We are all going to miss her in the office but she did promise to continue volunteering on the Wagon Days committee,” Jonas said. “Sandy is the perfect selection for this year’s grand marshal. Her many years of dedication to the city and community made her an easy choice for me. She also has spent at least that many years involved in Wagon Days, from riding in the parade in the family buggy when she was 4 years old to volunteering each year to make the weekend as successful as it’s been.”
Jonas encourages everyone to come out this weekend and celebrate with Cady.
Some of Cady’s Wagon Days duties will include speaking at the Grand Marshal’s Reception at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 2 at Memory Park on Main Street in Ketchum. She will ride in the grand marshal buggy with her husband and her mother, Wanda Toothman, in the Big Hitch Parade at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3.