Sandra Walpole Handler

1936 - 2025

Sandra Walpole Handler
09/05/1936 - 06/18/2025
Sandra Handler (born Walpole) died peacefully in her home in San Francisco on June 18th. Born in Billings, Montana, Sandra was the younger of two children born to Erminie and James Walpole. After her father's Cadillac dealership went bankrupt to a sudden hailstorm and a partner's insurance fraud, James moved his family to Los Angeles where Sandra spent her childhood. In high school she played the tympani, and while attending Stanford University, she was briefly a member of the archery team. She received her Masters in Education from Harvard and worked as the Entertainment Director for a cruise line which regularly tossed silverware overboard. For many years she worked for SFUSD as a special education teacher. She primarily worked with hearing impaired children and was conversant in both ASL and lipreading, and continued to dedicate herself to the hearing-impaired community and increased access for all students at public schools. She began her career at City College of San Francisco as a part-time instructor, eventually rising to Dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences, taking deep pride in her work and her colleagues with whom she built strong and friendly networks. Her 2003 retirement earned her a Sandra Handler Day from the City of San Francisco, for her years of public service.
Family and friends were always important to Sandra. She raised two children and helped raise three grandchildren, all of whom graduated from San Francisco public schools. She remained friends with people from high school, college, graduate school, mother's groups, book clubs, various workplaces and the PTA. She had a long and successful marriage to Louis Handler, with whom she explored shared interests in travel and opera, and enjoyed a proud involvement together with Congregation Sherith Israel. She talked to people wherever she went, and everyone loved her. Her long illness gathered an enormous amount of support, and the family is grateful for her wonderful caregivers.
Sandra liked gin-both the card game and the beverage. She loved long walks, movies, and The New Yorker. She could always tell a funny story, offer advice, and help a friend in trouble. She would hop on a plane and go anywhere in the world to see the people she loved best, and she would come home with souvenirs and gossip for everyone she left back at home. She is survived by her children Daniel and Rebecca, their spouses Lisa Brown and David Andrade, her grandchildren Otto, Willa and Simone, her loving and loyal extended family, and Edna, the last in a line of happy dogs.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Parents for Public Schools (SF) or Congregation Sherith Israel.