Sandra Jean Dyer

Sandra Jean Dyer

Scarborough, ME — On February 19, Sandra Jean (Mitchell) Dyer passed away after a brief illness. She was 81. Sandy grew up in West Lebanon, NH, and studied Social Work at UNH. As a college student, she boarded a train to New York City by herself to spend the summer volunteering in a Settlement House in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She considered this one of the bravest things she ever did.

After college she moved to Boston, where she happened to bump into Jim Dyer, a young man she knew from home, who was on shore leave from the Coast Guard. It was fate. She invited him home for spaghetti, which was the start of an epic sixty-year love story. They lived in White River Jct. and Brattleboro Vermont, where they raised Jon and Beth together, then moved to Portland Maine where they spent their retirement years traveling, boating on Sebago Lake, and spending time with family. Throughout their marriage they loved and supported each other, traveled together to some amazing places, and just genuinely enjoyed each other's company for life. At the end, all she wanted was to be with him.

Sandy loved being a mom (and she was really good at it). She went to all the games, shows and concerts, volunteered on school trips, led Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops. There was always room for one more kid at the table. Or two. Or six. She would drop everything, at a moment's notice, to help her children or her grandchildren, all of whom she believed in and unconditionally adored. She is still remembered fondly as a second mom by many of Jon and Beth's childhood friends.

All of her jobs were in service to others: Head Start for at-risk moms, supporting the administrative work of the church, helping to keep things running at the local middle school. For twenty years she ran the Upper Valley Hostel, where she provided a home away from home, a hot meal, and a hand to hold, for cancer patients. She was a lifelong member of her various local Congregational Churches, where she actively and enthusiastically engaged with her faith. She was one of those people who keep churches going: teaching Sunday school, serving on committees, volunteering at suppers, running the food pantry.

Sandy was a woman of strong beliefs. She believed that all people deserve love, support and equality. She firmly believed in an open and affirming church, where God is still speaking. She believed that her husband was the love of her life, her children were wonderful, and her grandchildren were utterly perfect. She believed that all the good music was written before 1950, with the possible exception of Rogers & Hammerstein musicals. She believed that lawns were for kickball, birds should be fed, the dusting and ironing should be put off to later and curling up with a good book is always a good idea.

She is missed and celebrated by husband James Dyer, daughter Elizabeth Murphy, her husband Sean, and granddaughter Sarah Daoudi, son Jonathan Dyer, his wife Kate, and grandchildren Jordan and Sariah, and her sisters Cynthia Sleeper and Nancy Newman, in-laws Bob Newman, Mary and Alden Mosshammer, and John and Faith Heiden, as well as a total of thirteen nieces and nephews and their spouses and children. She was predeceased by her parents, Edward and Virginia Mitchell, and Jim's parents George and Frances Dyer.

A service will be held in the spring in West Lebanon, NH. If you wish, memorial gifts could be sent to Bridgewater Raynham Special Olympics Massachusetts Program. The family extends their thanks and appreciation to the Hospice of Southern Maine and The Enclave of Scarborough for their loving care and support during an extremely difficult time.