June 10, 1950 ~ June 10, 2004
Dowds, Sandra Lynn, a 34 year resident of Carson, passed away on Thursday, June 10, 2004, in Torrance. Born in Pt. Pleasant, NJ, June 10, 1950, ''Mom-Mom'' Sandi passed away on her birthday and was 54. She is survived by her beloved husband of 35 years, Douglas Dowds of Carson. Also left to mourn her passing is her daughter, Diana (Tim) Dowds Sullivan of San Pedro, daughter, Debra Dowds (Javier Munoz) of Ontario, son, Don Dowds of Redondo Beach, daughter, Darlene Lobato of Carson, and daughter, Danise (Abel) Canizalez of Lomita; grandchildren - Adrian, Alyssa, Cassandra, Christian, Hannah, Jacob, Julian, Mykal, Nathaniel and Samantha; brother, David (Rose) Pope of San Diego; aunt, Loretta Dawes of Toms River, NJ, and her niece, Cindy (Bob) Kortenhaus of Howell, NJ. Visitation will be held Thursday, June 17th from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. at White and Day's Colonial Mortuary, 901 Torrance Blvd. in Redondo Beach. Graveside Services will be held immediately following visitation at 3:00 P.M. at Green Hills Memorial Park, 27501 So. Western Avenue in Rancho Palos Verdes. As a tribute to Sandi, the family has requested that no one wear black to the services. A memorial donation to the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org) would be preferred to flowers.
I went to high school with Sandra\’s daughter Debbi. My deepest condolences to Debbi and her family. I lost my mother almost 2 1/2 years ago and I know how hard it is. Cherish the memories as they will comfort you in your time of sorrow.
Our sincere condolences to your family on this significant loss.
I am Sandi\’s second eldest child, and I will miss my mom more and more as each day passes by. We had more than a Mother/Daughter relationship….we were friends. I will one day see my mom again.
What can I say to my dearest grammar and high school friend?.. so many memories with you, “Girlie!” :.. at age 10 in the bus on our first “big trip” to Wash., D.C. with the Girl Scouts..Sandi hollering “we\’re New Jerseyikes!” to the people at the rest stop, and “hey, Girlie” to those driving by us-hence the nickname for over 40 yrs!…. at camp sleepovers, moaning: “potty, cold, hungry!!” all night, to drive the counselors crazy.. in Ocean City at the annual Sep\’t. Meth.Youth weekends, all thru high school.. singing in the choirs, working on GAA at school to win Contest..playing cards with our sisters on my porch drinking KoolAid and eating tons of junk food, and making up secret card names to let each other know what card we wanted thrown, to beat the younger ones- and lots of laughing!.. and, writing all these years across the continent, sharing our childbirths, raising families, just “living in America”.. always connected, always friends..these are things I\’d say if I could be there..: and, my deepest sympathies to all the kids and “grands” she was so proud of..keep making her proud, ok?.. ya done real good, sweetie, and didn\’t deserve the suffering..I can\’t be there with the fam. and with you to celebrate you on Thursday, but I\’ll be saying a prayer and thinking of you so fondly from Greece.. we\’re counting on you to watch over us all now, and to rest in peace forever.. my thanks to you, dearest Girlie!! Love always, Gerri..
Our deepest sympathy and prayers to you Darlene, and the entire Dowds family. God never takes one away, he just prepares them as your forever guardian angle.
I met Sandi and Doug in 1972 or so. I was around 19. We were members of the same amateur radio club URAC. I believe it was at John Stenbakken\’s house, the gathering place for a bunch of the young hams. We would sit and chew the fat and eat Carol\’s cookies. College marriage and children occupied much of both of our time until I believe Doug stopped by or I went to a club meeting. This was maybe 1999. We would talk fairly regularly and visit every so often. Recently, maybe 5 weeks ago, when Sandi was in the LTC facility we invited Doug out to dinner. We had a great meal and Doug invited us over Sunday dinner when Sandi was home. We arrived in the afternoon. Beckie and Sandi visited while Doug and I ran for the food. We could tell immediately that Sandi was delighted that we could come over. She literally glowed with happiness and insisted that we come back the following Sunday and play Spinner, a domino game. Seeing her light up really struck a note in both Beckie and I. We were there every Sunday. We played this crazy game. It took almost 4 weeks to figure out the rules. That didn\’t matter. Just visitng with her was important. Sandi is truly remarkable. Doug mentioned in the memorial her “angelic qualities”. I have to say that description matched her to a tee. Sandi was a loving wife, mother and grandmother. You could see the kindness and gentleness she possessed. We felt that we were the greater benefactors during those visits. Her enthusiam and humor carried the day. I also have to say that I think she won the majority of the games and by a significant margin. Had I known how skilled she was I would have studied the game a bit more carefully. As it so happened she won the last game we played, the Sunday before her surgery. We will miss her. We expect that she has found a temporary foursome and is playing now. We look forward to seeing her soon and continuing our get togethers.