By Kyle Stuart
CNA and Concordia News mourn the loss of our longtime contributor and friend, Marsha Sandman, who passed away on August 2nd from chronic lymphocytic leukemia at the age of 76. Her son Kyle would like to share her story.
Marsha was born November 24th, 1948 in the back bay of Boston to second-generation Jewish immigrants. Her uncles were the first bagel bakers in Boston and started the Boston Bagel Company. Marsha had an older sister named Ronda.
Always the black sheep of the family, Marsha got married in her early twenties and moved as far away as she could to Los Angeles, where she began pursuing her education in art. Marsha initially studied ceramics, but one day wandered over to the metal-smithing classroom and never looked back.
She was a free spirit and after she finished school, left L.A. without her husband and headed north to Washington, settling in Duvall. There she continued to explore her creative expression and jewelry making, and generally refused to conform to the norms of society at the time. Some called Marsha a hippie, a title she wore proudly.
Her wanderlust soon took hold and she headed north once again to Fairbanks, Alaska, where her creative talents – and business – blossomed. She launched MJ Sandman Jewelry and by the early ’80s her fi ne silver and gold jewelry, inspired by the raw Alaskan landscape, was carried in galleries across the country. Fairbanks is where she met her second husband, Bill, and they had me. During her time in Alaska, Marsha worked on the Alaska pipeline and in real estate.
In 1989, Marsha left Alaska (without her husband again) and settled in Gleneden Beach, Oregon, to begin her most audacious adventure; raising me on her own. Imagine a 39-year-old single mother, loading up an ‘85 Toyota Tercel wagon with an 8-year old, camping gear and a dog, and driving the 1,700-mile gravel Alcan Highway from Fairbanks to a yet-to-be determined destination on the West Coast to start fresh. We settled on the Oregon Coast. I’m still in awe of how she managed, but manage she did.
We found a supportive community there and Marsha continued to build her jewelry business. To provide more steady income, Marsha pursued a career as a residential appraiser. She worked for the county assessor’s offi ce in Newport for a few years, then started Pride Appraisals – where she built a sterling reputation and a solid book of business.
Marsha loved to travel – frequently visiting friends in Hawaii, Mexico and adventuring off to the Dominican Republic, Argentina and South Korea. She was curious about people and culture, and was fearless in her pursuit of understanding.
In 2005, Marsha was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She enjoyed many years without the need for intervention, and in 2013, underwent her first round of cancer treatment. In 2014 she retired from appraising and moved in with me and my family in the Concordia neighborhood.
Marsha quickly embraced her new Portland community, embedding herself in the Creative Metal Arts Guild, the Concordia News staff , and the neighborhood at large. She continued to make jewelry and had showings at the annual Gathering of the Guilds and craft fairs around the metro area. She adored the Beatles and made it a tradition to see the NowHere band cover the White Album at the Alberta Rose Theatre. She loved a good story and attended The Moth and Seven Deadly Sins – always recounting the bravery, skill and vulnerability of the storytellers.
She loved interviewing neighbors for Concordia News. She genuinely wanted to know your story. She listened with intent and empathy and if you stuck around, she’d tell you her adventures, like the time she hitchhiked a ride on a helicopter in the Alaska bush. Or the summer she lived in a teepee with a trumpet under her bed to ward off bears. Or how she earned the nickname Fireball working the Alaska pipeline catching her boots on fire.
My mom and I were a two-person team who always looked after one another. As she got older, I did more of the looking after. My family is grateful to have shared our Concordia home with her over the past decade. Thank you for being part of her story.
Marsha was a creative, curious and vibrant woman. She leaves behind her granddaughter, Ari, her daughter-in-law, Patience, her sister Ronda, and many close friends she collected in Farmingham, Fairbanks, the Oregon Coast, and Portland. She left all her loved ones with many memories of a life well lived.