Sandra Elaine (Dearborn) Price Obituary (1946 - 2017)

Sandra Elaine Price, 71, of Rieth, Oregon passed away on August 22, 2017 surrounded by her loving family and friends. A memorial service will be held on September 2, 2017 at the Helix Community Church in Helix, Oregon beginning at 1:00 PM with Pastor Mark Woolbright officiating the service. A reception will follow the memorial service at the Christman home in Helix, Oregon. On April 10, 1946, Lewis and Gloria (Blackburn) Dearborn proudly welcomed their first born, a daughter, Sandra Elaine into their lives in Seattle, Washington. Sandy graduated high school in Pendleton, Oregon in 1964. After graduating high school, she attended Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton earning her LPN in 1966. For 23 years Sandy worked for Prestige Care at their many facilities throughout Pendleton before retiring in 2011. Sandy married Jack Barbour on March 23, 1968 and together they had two beautiful children; Dawniel and Angela. They later divorced and in 1974, Sandy met and married Harold Price who had three children of his own; Mark, Carrie and Matthew. They were married on April 2nd 1974 and were together for 40 years before his passing in 2014. When Sandy had free time she loved to work in her garden, go fishing and camping, work on craft projects, sew, crochet, cook for her family and can foods. Sandy was not only a caretaker by trade, but my nature. She took excellent care of geriatric patients for the majority of her career while also caring for her two daughters, three stepchildren, seven grandchildren and husband. Additionally, she lovingly babysat other people's children and grandchildren through the years. Sandy was always caring and giving to her family and everyone around her. She will be sorely missed by all who had the privilege to know her. She leaves behind her father and step mother, Lewis and Mary Dearborn of Pilot Rock, Oregon; daughter, Dawniel Barbour of Florence, Oregon; daughter Angela Christman and son in-law Gary of Helix, Oregon; brother and sister in-law Tom and Tana Dearborn of Helena, Montana; sister and brother in-law, Becky and Dane Holmes of Adams, Oregon; three step children Mark Price (Reta Price) of Portland, Oregon, Carrie Howell (Roger Howell) of Tumalo, Oregon, and Matthew Price (Cheryl Price) of Ithica, New York, 7 grand children and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Sandy is preceded in death by her mother Gloria Dearborn, beloved Aunts and Uncles Wallace and Lanny Blackburn and Mary and June Blackburn. Should friends and family desire, memorial contributions may be made to the St. Mary's Cancer Center through Gray's West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814. Sometimes being the "funeral people" is hard, too hard. We see grief daily and we are strong for the families that are brought to us through unfortunate circumstances. Even watching other people grieve so intensely weighs on our emotions deeply but occasionally we the "funeral people" are also the grieving the loss of our own. Sandy is one of my own; she is someone who has been in my life since I was two years old. She was everywhere we seemed to be from Central Oregon to Eastern Oregon. There was a period of many years she went rouge and moved to Missouri, but she was still a present force in our household through memories, stories and long phone conversations between her and my mom. I remember very small bits from when I was young but some memories never faded and a good portion of my childhood memories involve Sandy and her husband Harold. The last few days as she was losing her battle with cancer I started to ask myself what Sandy was to me. She isn't blood relation but she may as well have been. I never came to a conclusive answer because she was everything to me. Sandy could act like a mother, a fun aunt, a kind sweet grandma, or a friend depending on what I needed at the time and I am so sad she is gone. My experiences with Sandy are not unique, I am not special. This is who Sandy was and she always seemed to welcome everyone. She was everyone's everything. Sandy was my mom's best friend and they were a whole bunch of trouble together but I have never seen anyone who could make my mom act so silly. They could bicker like sisters but they could never stay away from each other for too long. There was absolutely no one on this planet who could keep my mother in line like Sandy! I know my mom's heart is going to feel empty without Sandy just as all of us will feel an impact of some magnitude. This is not an obituary for Sandy, but I wanted to fill this space with something a bit more personal than a funeral notice because she was one of my people, she still is one of my people as she lives on in my heart, my memories, through stories and tall tales her and my mother used to share. I do have information for an obituary and I will get that up soon, I just want to make sure it is right and her daughters have a chance to add their personal details to it. Angela and Dawniel have been so strong and so caring through her sickness and her decline, they have handled themselves with such grace and Sandy couldn't have asked for a better pair of girls than these two. It is so lovely to see them working together and making choices that Sandy would have wanted. With love, Windy