Her parents were Roy Sommers, a car dealer who lost his auto dealership during the Great Depression and worked as a car salesman for the remainder of his career, and Christine Sommers, a housewife who went back to her job as office manager for the local Girl Scouts chapter after her husband lost his dealership.

[3]: 9  She graduated from Woodbury High School, where she joined the National Honor Society and studied secretarial training.

[2] After graduation, Sommers began working for a Mobil Oil Company refinery as a clerk.

She visited Seattle, Washington, in 1965 for summer classes and moved to the city full-time in 1968 where she earned her bachelor's and masters' degrees in economics from the university.

[5] She was appointed as the chair of the House Appropriations Committee on January 10, 1994, by Speaker Brian Ebersole.