Email from Jean Marie Linhart about Sandy’s memorial service, including her notes on what she said.  Sent 8/15/09.

There was a line out the door for Sandy's memorial. It was standing

room only, though Ted Gordon and I both found seats but not together.

Jason Patterson was behind us in line; I didn't see where he sat. I

got an aisle seat by Peter, another OPRF SF&F alumni. He said he was

the class of 1994, so after me (1987), Ted and Jason (class of 1989?

or was that 1988?) . We met OPRF SF kids who graduated in the 2000s;

2002 and 2004. Youngsters. There was a group of about 10 - 12 of us

visiting together at one time after the Memorial. I am not sure how

many total were there.

I almost started crying when I saw the big picture of Sandy on the way in.

Everyone who spoke made us laugh and made us cry. I think that says

something important about who Sandy is.

I'm not going to try to capture what everyone said. I learned some

things about her, nothing that surprised me. She was quite a lady, 

but we already knew that. An adventurer, organized, a go-getter,

gregarious, cheerful, curious, lover of people.

It was one of those days when I opened my mouth and the right words

came out. I don't know exactly what I said, but I have the notes I

used in front of me, and I'll try to give you an idea. In practice my

words were timing at right around 2 minutes.

I was introduced as being from the OPRF Sci Fi and Fantasy club. Judy, 

Sandy's sister, brought up a pair of Sandy's brown or black walking 

shoes... that gave me the perfect lead in.

* * *

I put my sarong/wrap on the podium in front of me. I said we SF ers

had discussed bringing our towels, but I was now a grownup and this

was as close to that as I was going to come to doing that. (Not sure

everyone got the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy joke, but enough

people did.)

I had Mrs. Price for American History over the summer. I didn't like

history, and I was just trying to get the class out of the way.

History was a dull subject where you memorized names and dates. Sandy

was the first teacher to turn history into stories about interesting

people in interesting times for me.

In about 1985 the SF group needed a new faculty adviser. I knew Sandy

was new and probably not already committed to a lot of extracurricular

activities; I was the one who asked her to be the faculty adviser for 

our group. She wasn't into Sci Fi, but she took the group on.

I knew I was asking her for a favor; it never occurred to me I might

be doing her one. She let me know last spring that it made her

reputation at OPRF to be in charge of "those weird kids". I wish you

could hear the affection in her voice when she said "those weird

kids".

Sandy was the type of person who has an appreciation for people who

were different and out of the ordinary. We were weird kids, nerds,

geeks, misfits who didn't fit in with everyone else, often lacking

some social skills that we really should have had.

Sandy gave us a safe place to be ourselves, and encouragement to

pursue our ideas.

She helped a group of misfit kids organize a Science Fiction

convention year after year.

She told me she never became a fan of Sci Fi, but that she was a huge

fan of Sci Fi kids.

She let us misfit kids know that in her attitude and encouragement and 

in her actions toward us.

Sandy said to me, "Where else could you find a group of teenagers to

call you their Over Goddess?"

But where else would those generations of teens have ever found an Over Goddess?

Thank you, Sandy, for loving us as we were, for the enjoyment of our

weirdness, for the encouragement to pursue our ideas. I hope you knew

and know how much you meant to us. Lady Price, and Sandy is still

referred to as Lady Price, you are missed.

* * *

And here I am tearing up again.

* * *

The minister and family let us know that Sandy usually referred to us

as "quirky". I'm sure someone else said weird and she repeated it in

her words to me. I could hear the affection in her voice, and I

suspect most of us have called ourselves weird at one time or another.

If the shoe fits.

The minister also made a reference to Sandy's Skype name. I asked the

family about this. She was "Overgoddess" on Skype. Apparently that

was sometimes a bit of an embarrassment when she'd have to tell

someone new what her Skype name was, and they didn't know the tale.

I talked to a lot of people, at least briefly. I got a lot of thanks

for what I said. I said I was honored to do it, and I was.