Sonshine's Story

Sonshine Books & Gifts was opened in June 1983 when I was laid off my job as a high school teacher due to declining enrollments and my lack of tenure in the school district. A friend was selling the book store which she ran out of her home due to health issues in her family. I felt that I had a good knowledge of Christian Education material and music due to my volunteer work at church, plus I had spent a lot of time and money in Christian book stores and was quite familiar with their product. So after a lot of prayer and some entrepreneurship and accounting courses I took the plunge into Christian retail. For the first 7 years the store operated from a store front location in O'Leary. With the arrival of my  youngest child we moved the store into the basement of our home. This year amazingly marks my 40th year in the business. I will never be rich, but I love to spend time helping my customers find the best product for them. My children all grew up in the store and now my grandchildren are enjoying checking out the product when they get to visit.  I work part time at the local library(to support my bookstore habit) so may not always be here to greet you, but Ken is usually available when I'm not.

Here's a little trip down memory lane since June 1983! We've been through cancer, a flood and now Covid. But God is Good and we're blessed!