Grace Layton Sandness was born to Richard and Edith Harriet Layton at Valley City, North Dakota.

In 1950, just after completing her Freshman year at Cottey Junior College, Nevada, MO, she was stricken with polio. She was in an iron lung for several months and in hospitals for a year.

Her natural artistic talent gave her a much needed outlet for her ambitions and her active mind, as well as aiding in her therapy. Being a quadriplegic, she held the pencil in her mouth; working hard to improve her drawing she soon was designing a Christmas card for the family's use. This was followed by the production of "Grace Notes."

The business flourished and for fifteen years Grace used the money to finance a foster child, sending her through the eighth grade and buying her a sewing machine.

With the help of Roy Lund, a local radio "ham", Grace was enabled to pass the examination for a license as a "ham" and she became known as the "brown-eyed Angel" by all the radio hams. She met her future husband through her radio contacts, as he too, was a "ham" by the name of David Sandness.

?'he couple attended the State Univ. of Iowa, graduating Grace with a B.A. and David with an M.A. He later received his Ph.D. from the Univ. of North Dakota. Their love for children has led to the adoption of seven children.

Don, also a son of Richard and Edith Layton, an Electrical Engineer, is married and the father of two children.

Steve, the second son of Richard and Edith, is married and lives at Bisbee, North Dakota.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 212