Lillian Clark Sandford

1912 - 2016

Lillian Clark Sandford, 103, of Manchester, died Friday, March 11, at Manchester Manor. Born December 11, 1912, in North Providence, Rhode Island, the daughter of Joseph Augustus Clark and Sarah Holdsworth Clark, she lived in Providence and then Cranston, Rhode Island, until moving to the Arbors in Manchester to be nearer her family in 1999. After attending public schools in Providence and Cranston, she graduated in 1934 from the University of Rhode Island (then Rhode Island State College), where she was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority. She then taught in the Cranston school system until her marriage on July 8, 1939, to William Sandford, her college sweetheart. She soon returned to the classroom to teach math during World War II, leaving at the end of the war when her daughter, Kathie, was born. She resumed her teaching career in 1954 at the newly opened Park View Junior High School in Cranston, where she taught until retiring in 1977 after serving for ten years as chair of the math department. She earned her Master's degree from the University of Connecticut in 1966. Following retirement, Hon (Lillian's family nickname since childhood) and Bill traveled widely in Europe and the United States, enjoying new places and experiences, including a cross-country train trip that recreated the month-long trip Bill had taken with the Rhode Island Boy Scouts to the 1953 National Jamboree in Irvine, California, a trip they had long planned to take when they retired. After her beloved Bill died in 2000, Hon kept her promise to him that she would find a way to life a full and happy life without him. She enjoyed her new Connecticut friends, especially her friends at the Arbors, attended many concerts and church services, relished lobsters at the shore and meals with family at her favorite restaurants, and devoted a great deal of time and energy to her role as chair of the Arbors hospitality committee, encouraging new residents to join her in enjoying all the facility had to offer. One of the best times of her life was her 100th birthday party at Max Downtown, a grand occasion attended by all her family and many long-time friends, at which she spoke eloquently about her love for family and friends and her gratitude for the support she had always received from them. A life-long Episcopalian, Hon was a long-time member of St. David's-on-the-Hill Episcopal Church in Cranston and then of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford, which she and Bill joined upon moving to Connecticut. Hon outlived both her older sisters, Mae Clark Brown and Kay Clark Goulding. She leaves her daughter and son-in-law, Katherine and Raymond Wilson of Glastonbury; two granddaughters and their spouses, Rachel and Bernard Yarcusko, and Sarah and Thomas Baker; and her great-grandson, William Bruce Baker-Hastings, all of whom she loved beyond telling. She also leaves her much-loved extended family: niece Sally Kish and her husband, Les, and their family; niece Barbara Brown and her family; and nephew Richard Brown and his wife, Seena, as well as cherished friends and staff members at the Arbors and Manor, many of whom she came to know and hold dear when she was already over 100 years old. Like Bill, Hon loved people, and loved to travel and read and learn. She was a champion of everyone she knew and valued, especially young people, whom she unfailingly encouraged to make the very best they could of their lives. The most remarkable thing about her life was not its unusual length, but how completely and successfully she lived it, and what an interesting and joyful person she remained until its end. She will be very much missed. A service of thanksgiving for Lillian's life will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 120 Sigourney Street in Hartford, on Saturday, March 19, at 11:00 a.m. with a reception in the church hall to follow. Parking is available in the church lot off Farmington Avenue; the church is completely handicapped accessible. Memorial contributions in Lillian's name may be made to The Choir School of Hartford, 120 Sigourney Street, Hartford, CT 06105, or the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, P.O. Box 861, Manchester, CT 06045. The Ahern Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.