Meet Your Vestry Slate 2026: Part 2 - Sarah Elizabeth and Amanda

We are pleased to introduce the final two candidates for our Vestry Class 2026-2029, Sarah Elizabeth McCandless and Amanda Montoya. To read about last week's candidates, Chris Hunt and Brenda Maceo, go to https://bit.ly/slate2026-part1

Members of the Vestry are elected to three-year terms, or until their successors are qualified and elected. Voting will take place at our annual meeting, to be held in our Historic Sanctuary (with an online option) on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 9 am.

This will be the only church service held on this day. A parish potluck breakfast will take place in Cleaver Hall after the meeting.

Your Vestry meets on the third Tuesday of every month. 

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Sarah Elizabeth McCandless

Originally from Kansas City, I have lived in Pasadena for over a decade and am so grateful to have found a place at Church of Our Saviour. A cradle Episcopalian, I grew up attending St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School, where I was active in about every club that was offered — math team, Science Olympiad, French club, basketball, and tennis. My family attended St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where I sang in the children’s choir and served as an acolyte for over seven years. I have been a member of COS since February 2022 and have enjoyed serving as a Lay Eucharistic Minister over the last year.

I earned a BS in Aerospace Engineering and minored in French at the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk!), and also spent a semester abroad in Montpellier, France. I earned an MS in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. I now work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a navigation engineer. Working as an “interplanetary Google maps specialist,” I ensure we know a spacecraft’s location and can precisely predict its trajectory. I have supported thirteen different missions exploring our solar system, including Mars Perseverance, Artemis I, Europa Clipper, and Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor). In 2024, I was selected for NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) Campaign 7 Mission 3 and served as an “analog astronaut,” simulating a mission to Mars for 45 days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Outside work, I am an avid sports fan who enjoys cheering for the Kansas Jayhawks and Kansas City Chiefs & Royals. I serve on an advisory board at KU, am active in STEM outreach, and will join the Board of the Junior League of Pasadena in June. I also enjoy camping, running, piloting Cessna 172s, and traveling with friends and family.

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Amanda Montoya

Hi, I’m Amanda Montoya, born and raised in San Gabriel and a member of Church of Our Saviour since I was around 7 years old, on and off throughout my life. My greatest memories have been celebrated here including many wonderful Christmas pageants and VBS programs when I was a child, my wedding in 2008, and the baptism of my twins as well as the incredible memories I am currently making. The literal smell and feel when I’m on campus reminds me of home.

I went to college and majored in childhood development and psychology but was a year shy of graduating when I needed to care for my dad. My life then became an adventure of travel and experiences which culminated in marrying the love of my life, Cristobal (Cris), and welcoming kids a few years after that. Our daughter, Heidi, was born in 2010 and our girl/boy twins, Gunnar and Magnus, came in 2013. Life became focused on motherhood, and after my daughter, I decided not to go back to work as a reading specialist. Everything was amazing, then Covid hit. Although there were many tragedies because of the pandemic, it also opened my eyes to reworking how our lives functioned, and that included pulling my children from traditional education and deciding to homeschool. My homeschool journey quickly transformed into an awareness that there needs to be more options for students. So, two friends and I opened up Trellis Learning, a homeschool hybrid learning space for students 10–20 located in La Cañada/ Flintridge l. I am the director at Trellis and have never been more proud (besides my kids) to create something so meaningful and impactful.

I am a lover of animals and all things sparkly! Between cats and dogs, snakes, tarantulas and geckos, and a few hissing roaches (yes, pet roaches), you can call our home the funny farm! I would be honored to be a part of the COS Vestry and look forward to continuing to strengthen and grow the congregation and community of COS.