Sandra Starnes Marcum

Sandra "Sandy" Starnes Marcum, aka "Tanta," 63, of Great Falls, Va, died Saturday, 22 January 2011, of complications associated with a respiratory illness. Sandy was born in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1947 to Harry and Phyllis Starnes, both parents preceding her in death. As the child of a United States Air Force family, she spent her childhood and young adult years in multiple locations in the United States and abroad including Riverside, CA; Tuscon, AZ; Colorado Springs, CO; Montgomery, AL; Annandale, VA; Madrid, Spain; and Ankara, Turkey. She was a graduate of Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. She attended the Beirut College for Women in Beirut, Lebanon before graduating with a degree in history from Radford University. After college, Sandy embarked on a 34 year career with the US Government, holding multiple positions with the United States Army, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, and the Office of Personnel Management. The majority of her career involved service as a Special Investigator with the Defense Investigative Service. In 1977, she married Philip Clay Marcum, a U.S. Army officer, and embarked on another series of residences throughout the world. Stateside, she lived in Ft. Monmouth, NJ and the multiple homes in the Washington, D.C. area. Abroad, she lived in Bonn/Bad Godesberg and Wuerzburg, Germany and in Brampton and RAF Alconbury in the United Kingdom. The many locations of residence throughout her life served as starting points for her penchant for both foreign and domestic travel. She visited virtually all of the West European countries and multiple countries in the Middle East and nearly all of the states in the US. She took great pleasure in collecting "small treasures" from by gone periods such as medicine and ceramic bottles, farm implements, scales, kitchen utensils and teddy bears. She loved dogs throughout her life and treated each pet as her "furry" child. She loved children, especially her nieces and nephews, and took care to remember each of their special holidays and birthdays throughout her life. She supported numerous children's not for profit organizations, including the Wolf Trap Foundation, the Campagna Center, and Medical Care for Children's Partnerships. In her latter years, she found her greatest joy spending time with her beloved niece, Skylar, doing homework, reading books, watching movies and TV shows, and sharing fun stories, good times, and Hersey Kisses and Fanta soda. Sandra is survived by Philip Marcum, her husband of 33 years; Mike Starnes, her brother; Sherry Starnes Meyers, her sister, and niece Skylar - all from Northern Virginia. A funeral service and burial is scheduled at 1100 hours, 21 March at the Old Post Chapel, Ft Myer, VA with internment following in Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial gifts may be made to the "Tanta" Marcum Education Fund, Wolf Trap Foundation.