Sandra Diane Engel

Sandra Diane Engel

On Tuesday, December 31, 2019, Sandra Diane Engel, beloved sister, mother, grandmother, aunt and friend "shuffled off to Buffalo" at the age of 78. Considering her extreme aversion to anything remotely technology-related (except for her DVD player and Bose CD player), it seems somewhat fitting she left us just before the historic year of 2020. The Presidential election alone may have done her in.

Sandra was born in September 1941 in Susanville, CA to Albert Theodore and Marveen Petersen. She received her nursing degree in 1962 from St. Luke's School of Nursing. She later went on to earn her Bachelor's degree in nursing from California State University, Chico and was a nurse for over 40 years. Her first nursing job was at the Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children in San Francisco. Nursing took her many places; she touched lives at convalescent homes and, in more recent years, was an admired school nurse.

Sandra loved to travel and was always up for an adventure. She went skydiving the year of her 50th birthday and visited many different countries over her busy life, including France, Belgium, Germany and Australia. She loved Lassen National Park and the Columbia Gorge. San Francisco held a special place in her heart and she visited as often as she could.

In her quieter later years she embraced her numerous other passions. She was a Scrabble master and continued the family tradition of being overly competitive at cards. A voracious reader, she surrounded herself with her favorite books and passed on that love to her granddaughter. She loved musicals and movies and thus was able to be talked into a DVD player by her family, one of the only pieces of "technology" she learned to use. Sandra was a wonderful letter writer and crossword puzzle-solver. An avid fan of the Warriors, she did not miss a game. She was a social butterfly with an unmistakable laugh and would talk to anyone who crossed her path. Sandra was loved by many and had friends all over the world. She was too busy making memories to be much of a cook but anyone in her life will tell you about her amazing pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Sandra is preceded in death by her father Albert and her mother Marveen. She is survived by her brother Robert (Doris) Petersen, two sisters Christine West and Karen Clark, daughter Karen (Frito) Stratton, son Michael Riley, granddaughters Nicole (Chris) Worley and Heidi Ison, two great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of her wonderful life will be held in April to allow safer travels for the many people who loved her.