Sandra Claire Newman

Sandra Claire Newman, a gifted massage therapist and longtime resident of Provincetown, Massachusetts, died on October 18, 2024 at the Living Center of St. Petersburg in Seminole, Florida, after a long illness with multiple sclerosis. She was 71. Sandy, the daughter of Hyman and Helen (Adelstein) Newman of Chelsea and Swampscott, Mass., was born on January 30, 1953 in Boston. She graduated from Chelsea High School in 1970, and attended college in Massachusetts.

Sandy moved to Provincetown with her close friend, John Rubera, in the mid-1970s, and made it her home for more than 30 years. During the early years, she worked as a baker at Café Edwige and the Lobster Pot, and as manager of Outermost Kites. In 1979, she and her then partner, Sue Harrison, bought the historic 1850 house and property at 46 Creek Road, and transformed it into the 4-unit Sea Breeze Condominium, where she lived until 2009.

In the late 1980s, Sandy achieved certification in massage therapy, specializing in deep tissue work, and opened her private practice, Therapeutic Bodywork, in Provincetown. She also spiced up John Rubera's West End clothing store, "Crosyafingas."

When she was in her early 30s, Sandy was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. She said it "rewired" her neurologically and bestowed her with new perceptual abilities--the uncanny gifts of reading people's energy, and knowing immediately exactly what was wrong with anyone on her massage table and how to best help them. She consumed books voraciously, loved her dogs, the ocean, and going fishing, and on early mornings, she often took long walks with her dog and collected sea glass on the beach at Herring Cove. During her later years in Provincetown, she was mentored in oil painting by her friend, artist Rose Basile, who uncovered a new, raw talent. Unfortunately, all of her artwork, along with several paintings by Rose, have been lost.

Sandy is is survived by her siblings--Todd Newman, Mark Newman, and Beth Newman, and by her devoted friends--Carol Bower, Sue Harrison, and Susan Czapla. Those who knew and loved Sandy remember her as "a true Provincetown character" with "a wicked sense of humor"--smart, irreverent, playful, romantic, a dynamo, always full of surprises, a firecracker, and above all, an immensely sensitive, kind, and warmhearted friend.

Sandy will remain forever in the minds and hearts of hundreds of people whose lives she touched with laughter and affection, and whose bodies she healed with her hands. In a Facebook tribute to Sandy, Sue wrote, "Wherever your molecules are going, however your energy is choosing to express itself next, be at peace at least briefly, before reappearing as fireworks somewhere."

Memorial donations in Sandy's name may be made to CASAS- the Carrie A. Seaman Animal Shelter, a no-kill animal shelter, PO Box 1374, Provincetown, MA. 02657.