Sandra Lawrence, age 72, of Green Valley, died Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019 with her family at her side.
Sandra Lee (Singer) Lawrence was born Nov. 23, 1946 in Albuquerque, NM to Edwin Singer and Dorothy (Wideman) Singer. She graduated from Fairview High School in Boulder, CO in 1964. In 1965 she started working for the National Bureau of Standards where she built a successful career as a research editor and an administrative officer. Her team went on to win the NBS Bronze Medal for working on TV Time, which laid the foundation for Closed Captioning for the hearing impaired on broadcast television.
She married David Howe in 1973 in Boulder, CO. They were divorced in 1991 and had two children together, Deborah Tracy and Daniel David. Sandra took a number of years off from work to care for her young children, and enjoyed cooking, gardening, making clothes and taking them to activities. She also loved making friends and going out to bowl, dance, play mahjong and enjoy the theater.
Sandra came from a Catholic family but, in her years as a new mother, was invited to attend services for a new church start. She became a charter member of Christ the Servant Lutheran Church in Louisville, CO. She struggled to overcome the feelings of condemnation and spiritual judgement she had grown up with but still persevered as a full-time single mother, working and providing for her children. She proudly saw them both graduate high school and go onto college.
Over time, Sandra’s job shifted from NBS to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), also in Boulder, where she met Vincent Lawrence and the couple married on July 25, 1997. Through Vince, she gained two stepdaughters, Julie Christine and Tezra Denise Lawrence. Seeing the newness and blessings in her life, she overcame past spiritual judgement and chose to be baptized again, claiming her faith as her own. She was baptized at First Baptist Church in Lafayette, CO in 2000.
Sandra took an early retirement from government service work in 2002. She and Vince continued to support their adult children and Sandra took on a part-time job working as an administrator and a bookkeeper at Christ the Servant in Louisville, where she loved supporting the community and being a welcoming voice and face. She and Vince also began taking trips around the country as often as they could.
In July 2013 they sold their house in Lafayette, CO and went traveling full time in their RV. Sandra loved meeting the other RVers and sharing their stories. Their travels eventually landed them back in Tucson, AZ. where Sandra’s mother and sister lived at the time, and where her father was buried. They settled in Green Valley where Sandra grew to love her neighbors and friends at church. She loved her Bible study and community group and trained and became a Stephen Minister. She loved making the home in Green Valley with her beloved husband Vince and watching the desert wildlife in their yard together. She loved all her children, stepchildren and in-law children and especially her granddaughter, Sasha.
Sandra is survived by her husband, Vincent Lawrence; children Tracy Howe Wispelwey and her husband Seth Wispelwey, Dan Howe and his wife Amanda Champany, Julie Lawrence and Tezra Lawrence; sister Judy Rose and her husband Brian Rose, and granddaughter Sasha Wispelwey. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother Edwin Singer.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019 at 10 a.m. at Desert Hills Lutheran Church in Green Valley.
The family asks that memorial contributions be made to El Comedor, migrant soup kitchen in Nogales, Mexico (accepted through the KINO Border Initiative) and Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans
