Sandra Louise "Sandie" Craven

Sandra "Sandie" Louise (Riccardi) Craven was born on November 13, 1939, in Berkeley, CA, and died on the evening of November 26, 2025, in Castro Valley, CA, she was 86.

Born to second generation Italian/Sicilian parents, Sandie was raised in the Catholic faith and lived all her life in the East Bay, mainly Castro Valley.

Sandie was a popular kid in junior and high school, her yearbooks are filled with "To a swell gal" and "You're going far" and "To a great kid" – all the hip lingo from the mid 50's, with not a page left blank.

She won numerous awards for her art including being recognized by Alameda County and featured in the newspaper a few times. Her creations spanned making Halloween costumes, designing posters, drawing comic strips and portraitures, she even played the trumpet and piano. She went on to the College of the Arts where her art blossomed and she won more awards and was commissioned by her church to create a stained-glass drawing. She got her teaching credential and her Library science credential and worked as a Librarian for the school district.

Sandie met and married the love of her life, John Henry Craven in 1968. When John passed away prematurely of Wegener's Granulomatosis because of being in the Vietnam war, she was a single mother of three children all under 4 years old. Her family and friends kept her close in a time when she felt all alone. Sandie focused on helping others from then on.

She was a memorable fixture at Our Lady of Grace parochial school as their Librarian, later she went on to Bookkeeping and Administrative work retiring at 80 years old!

Her music and art were a constant throughout her life with hand-drawn custom paper dolls, organ music, handmade gorgeous dresses (Prom and Wedding included), ukelele playing, original crafted Halloween costumes year after year, and portraitures. She was even commission by Santa Clara University for concept art on the John Montgomery biopic.

Survived by her children; Veronica, Andria and John Henry Jr., her grandchildren; Jessica, James, Jacob, Dylan and Devin, and her great-grandchildren; Vanessa and Kai.

A big Italian family and Craven in-laws also survive Sandie, too many to mention and all equally loved. She knew she was cared about from all your visits, phone calls, letters, and special times.

Sandie is predeceased by her husband, John Henry Craven Sr., mother Vincenza (Guadagna) Riccardi, Father Alessandro Riccardi, siblings Barbara Boone and Karen Riccardi, brothers-in-law Jim Craven and Robert Craven, and nephews Joseph Biernacki and Mikey Biernacki.

Her funeral mass will be on Friday, January 9, 2026, at The Church of the Transfiguration in Castro Valley, followed by her committal, alongside her beloved husband, at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Hayward.

For those who cannot attend in person the funeral mass will be live streamed on Transfiguration's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/@churchofthetransfiguration7749

In lieu of flowers please donate to any dementia research foundation of your choice.