Sandra Lee Abbott Simonis
Sandra Lee Abbott Simonis, our beloved wife, mother, Nana, sister and friend, passed away unexpectedly on Feb. 14, 2025 after a brief illness.
She was born on Jan. 25, 1941 in Baker City, Oregon to James and Ruby Abbott. She was the eldest of three and an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-bay Saints.
She grew up in Eastern Oregon and graduated from La Grande High School. She was a teen in the 50's, and loved wearing the poodle skirts and embracing the 1950s culture. During her years in middle and high school, she was a cheerleader and a Badminton champion. She also attended school with a certain young man that she thought was just awful, and she told all her friends to stay away from Joe. To everyone's surprise, she married Joe in Oct. 1958.
A few years later, Joe enlisted into the Navy and was later stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After about a year, Sandra and their first child, Kathleen, moved to Hawaii for about 6 months. Five months after returning to the mainland, their second daughter, Rebecca was born. They settled in southern California for about five years and welcomed a son, David, during that time.
Sandra loved to move and explore new places, so the family lived in several towns in California, Idaho and Oregon.
Sandra's life can be encapsulated by many words: Faith, family, friends, love, laughter, service, gardening, food, shopping, socializing, creative, fun and yes, even being stubborn and a spitfire! In her 84 years here with us, she experienced an abundance of each.
Sandra was also an avid reader and would usually visit the library weekly. She was also very organized and held many leadership positions in the church.
She loved to cook Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, even though she did not know how to cook when she married. Joe patiently and lovingly taught her some basics, and through determination, cook books, and lots of experimenting, she learned to cook. She really excelled at soups, salads, stews, rhubarb cake, chicken enchiladas and casseroles.
She laughed often and liked to be joyful and silly to make others laugh. She would laugh harder than anyone else at her own jokes!
She had many adventures and opportunities-she sold baskets at home parties, worked in a jewelry store and sold real estate. She and Joe served a temple mission in the Spokane, Washington LDS temple. They also traveled to New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina and helped feed thousands of people for about six weeks alongside their nephew and his wife, Ron and Cindy, and their son Elijah.
She thoroughly enjoyed the holidays and used her creative decorating talent to decorate the house and sometimes the church or for a community event. Her family finds it so "fitting" that she would pass on a holiday, especially a holiday around love, and also that it preceded a three-day weekend with a Monday holiday as she did NOT like Monday holidays.
She also loved colors, especially bright colors, but her favorite was yellow-cheery, sunny and warm -just like her.
She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Joe; her three children: Kathleen (Rick), Rebecca (Robert), and David (Karen); eight grandchildren: Christina, Brandon, Jonathon, Bradley, Andrew, Daniel, Mike, and Jake; 15 great-grandchildren; her sister Elizabeth (David); and numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Doug.
A celebration of life will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, June 20, 2025, at the LDS Chapel, 2056 US Hwy 2 South, Libby, Montana.
Arrangements are under the care of Schnackenberg Funeral Home of Libby. Online condolences and memories may be shared by visiting www.schnackenbergfh.com.