Sandra Crane Whitman

was born on May 15, 1940, the second child of Arthur Eaton Crane and Cooley Graves Crane. She passed on May 20, 2014 at the age of 74. Her home town was Dalton, MA, where she attended grade school through the sixth grade, at which point she spent her junior high school period at Emma Willard in Troy, NY. Her high school period was spent at St. Timothy's in Maryland, where she excelled as a student. This was exhibited by her being designated a Merit Scholar for her college boards, and her acceptance at Radcliffe, now Harvard. She met her husband, Walter Whitman, at age 14 at Morewood Lake in the Pittsfield Country Club, where he was a Life Guard that summer. They were married when she was 20, on June 10, 1960. She then transferred to Cornell, where her husband was earning his degrees and she graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Arts with a major in mathematics. She had three children with Walter: Robert, James and John, which resulted in three grandchildren, Robert's daughter, Kelly, and John and Laura's children, Rebecca and Grant. Sandra spent a traumatic 25 years caring for her second son, ending with a liver transplant. During James's illness they took their sons out of school for a year to travel around the world, first, primarily the South Pacific and then most of Western Europe. Sandra was an avid knitter and sewer. She not merely made many of her own clothes but sewed professionally for a Marimekko fabric store, making them dresses out of that material, which is singularly challenging, due to its large patterns. Sandra had a wonderful ability to visualize patterns and shapes. Sandra always enjoyed the wilderness with its flora and fauna, leading us to many weeks in the deep wilderness of such as the Gila National Forest, with weighty backpacks (wet foods and a dollop or two of wine). She also chose the setting of 5 acres for our home, studded with fir and ponderosa pine, one half mile above Denver for similar reasons of wildlife. Sandra was invariably stoic throughout the ravages of her year and a half of Chemo Therapy. However, she was sentient to the last, when she lapsed into a coma. Sandra with her husband, sons and granddaughter, Kelly, had a Last Supper together circa three days before she passed. Sandra will be desperately and lovingly missed by her family, including her two German Shepherds.