Sandra L. Wolfe

Sandra “Sandy” Wolfe, 77, of New Port Richey, Florida, passed away August 9, 2023, at home surrounded by her family after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

Sandy was a strong, caring spirit who approached life’s challenges with fortitude and tenacity. If you gave Sandy a task, you knew she would accomplish it and give her whole heart and attention.

The impact of Alzheimer’s may have robbed her of that fire, but as we look back at this remarkable woman’s life, two words come to mind – “caring” and “creative”.

Sandy showed her caring nature every day through her work as a nurse, dedicating her life to providing care for others for over 30 years. For Sandy, nursing was not a profession but a calling. Her nursing philosophy was simple; she treated every patient like family. Sometimes that meant she would administer a little tough love in addition to the medical treatments, guiding her patients to the best medical outcome.

There were many accomplishments throughout Sandy’s nursing career but two stand out. The first was while working in an Emergency Room in Charleston, SC. She and one of her ER physicians started the city’s first fast-track ER (what eventually became Urgent Care). This program provided faster treatment for minor injuries and illnesses, reducing the patient load in the main ER, and leading to faster response time for major injuries and life-threatening situations.

The second, and perhaps one of the best examples of her putting others first with her unmatched compassion, was providing home health services to the underprivileged and underserved of East Saint Louis, MO. That area of Saint Louis was poverty stricken with a very high crime rate, yet Sandy felt it was essential to ensure they received quality healthcare.

Not only was Sandy caring and compassionate, but she also had a gift and passion for being creative. She used this passion to help others by being a wedding planner, director, and floral designer. Sandy used her gift of creativity by supervising the construction and decorations for Remount Baptist Church’s Singing Christmas Tree, which held over 30 church choir members. In addition to these things, she designed and built floats for Christmas parades for businesses she either worked at or volunteered for. She also helped decorate floats for the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA, which was a joy for her to experience.

In 2003, Sandy created a stage set for the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In for the centennial celebration of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. The scene included a replica of the Wright Flyer with a 16-foot wingspan flying across a sand dune, an 8 ft replica of the space shuttle taking off, an a 6-foot hot air balloon, all of which were made with Styrofoam.

Sandy showed her exceptional skill for design when she helped build a Biblical city out of Styrofoam with 8-foot walls and a 25-foot gate for an event in New Port Richey called Experience Bethlehem. Sandy’s creativity was especially seen when she created a scene for the event, making it look like live-action angels were floating in clouds.

She loved the visual arts and often used her creativity for church dramas and events. She wanted to use her talent to create scenes that would help tell Biblical stories in a way that helped engage children and pull them into the stories visually and vocally.

Memorial services are planned for September 10, 2023, in Charleston, SC and October 15, 2023, in New Port Richey, FL — details will be provided later.

To honor this amazing and remarkable woman’s life, please make contributions on her behalf to the Alzheimer’s Association in the hope that someday no other family will have to walk the path of the “long goodbye”.