Obituary for Sandra Kay (Miller) Powell
Sandra Kay (Miller) Powell was born on December 2, 1937 to Mary Zona (McIver) and Roy Leland Miller of Coleman, Texas. She passed away unexpectedly on April 12, 2021 at age 83 in Boston.
She grew up in Coleman and Trickham, Texas. She loved music and played both piano and cornet, later earning a Bachelor’s in Music from UT Austin. Making San Antonio her home in the 1960s, she became an educator, completing a Master’s degree in Education from Our Lady of the Lake University. Her joy and specialty were working with the early grades, especially in her role as a “helping teacher,” a unique position designed to support children with any learning difficulty. She spent several decades teaching at the elementary level in multiple districts before moving to the administrative level to design math and science curricula for the remainder of her career. Sandy’s warmth, optimism, generosity, intellect, and strong sense of justice gave her a special charisma that uplifted people around her. Her authenticity and kind west Texas wit are remembered fondly by family and her many friends and colleagues.
The love of Sandy’s life was her husband John R. Powell. Together they vacationed, skied, played practical jokes, and celebrated their blended family of children and grandchildren.
After she lost John in 2017, she moved to her youngest daughter’s home in Harvard, MA, where she enjoyed sitting in front of the fireplace, day trips, snow, and feeding the resident goats, chicken, pigs and geese. She made many new friends in New England in her too-short time there.
She is survived by her daughters, Lisa Orr and children—Roy and Henry Harris; Karin Orr and husband, Bill, and son—Kory Loehfelm; and John’s children, Cindy Schmid, Jay Powell and wife, Tricia and their daughter, Elise Emily; Sandy Hutson and husband, Miles, and her children—Tony and wife Sarah and their children Anna Sophia, Vincent Laws, Luisa Ray and Grace Evelyn, Michael and his wife, Emily and their son, Jack, and Kaela Healani Morlandt. Her eldest grandson observed that “without her, there’s a hole in the world.”
She will be interred with John on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at 2:15PM at the Fort Sam Houston military base in San Antonio, TX.
In lieu of flowers, please consider doing a kind thing for another person in her honor, and share it on her Legacy page for others to view. Alternatively, consider supporting her favorite organizations in her name Doctors Without Borders, Harvard Alpaca Ranch, or Tomten Farm and Sanctuary.
Memorial page: www.actonfuneralhome.com
She grew up in Coleman and Trickham, Texas. She loved music and played both piano and cornet, later earning a Bachelor’s in Music from UT Austin. Making San Antonio her home in the 1960s, she became an educator, completing a Master’s degree in Education from Our Lady of the Lake University. Her joy and specialty were working with the early grades, especially in her role as a “helping teacher,” a unique position designed to support children with any learning difficulty. She spent several decades teaching at the elementary level in multiple districts before moving to the administrative level to design math and science curricula for the remainder of her career. Sandy’s warmth, optimism, generosity, intellect, and strong sense of justice gave her a special charisma that uplifted people around her. Her authenticity and kind west Texas wit are remembered fondly by family and her many friends and colleagues.
The love of Sandy’s life was her husband John R. Powell. Together they vacationed, skied, played practical jokes, and celebrated their blended family of children and grandchildren.
After she lost John in 2017, she moved to her youngest daughter’s home in Harvard, MA, where she enjoyed sitting in front of the fireplace, day trips, snow, and feeding the resident goats, chicken, pigs and geese. She made many new friends in New England in her too-short time there.
She is survived by her daughters, Lisa Orr and children—Roy and Henry Harris; Karin Orr and husband, Bill, and son—Kory Loehfelm; and John’s children, Cindy Schmid, Jay Powell and wife, Tricia and their daughter, Elise Emily; Sandy Hutson and husband, Miles, and her children—Tony and wife Sarah and their children Anna Sophia, Vincent Laws, Luisa Ray and Grace Evelyn, Michael and his wife, Emily and their son, Jack, and Kaela Healani Morlandt. Her eldest grandson observed that “without her, there’s a hole in the world.”
She will be interred with John on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at 2:15PM at the Fort Sam Houston military base in San Antonio, TX.
In lieu of flowers, please consider doing a kind thing for another person in her honor, and share it on her Legacy page for others to view. Alternatively, consider supporting her favorite organizations in her name Doctors Without Borders, Harvard Alpaca Ranch, or Tomten Farm and Sanctuary.
Memorial page: www.actonfuneralhome.com