Sandra Jean Haywood

Sandra Jean Haywood departed peacefully on March 14, 2025 at 82 years young. She grew up in Albany, CA where her love for learning and talent in the arts, figure skating, reading and the medical field began. As early as grade school, her artistic talent was regionally recognized with awards for her civic poster entries. Following high school, she was selected to attend an inaugural program at UCSF in dental assisting and soon found work as a dental assistant, eventually becoming o?ce manager. With optimism, style and grace, she worked full-time while raising two young daughters, a cat, and still made time to sew them beloved matching dresses, Halloween costumes, Easter hats - some with birds nests, making every holiday a celebrated and cherished memory.

In 1974 Sandy remarried and they moved from Niles, CA to Los Gatos. She taught several dental assisting classes before discovering a long and rewarding career as a medical o?ce manager for a succession of well respected reconstructive surgeons in town. She loved greeting patients and ensuring that their experience and the o?ce ran smoothly. Sandy also loved ski-bus Wednesdays when a chartered bus filled with Good Sam doctors, nurses, spouses, staff and an occasional lucky child headed for the slopes pre-dawn, skied all day, and on the evening ride home shared stories and good cheer over homemade hors d'oeuvres. In later years, these trips morphed into flights to the Canadian Rockies to ski and ice skate which she enjoyed with her colleagues as well. While at home, ice skating and a lot of Jazzercise kept her going.

Curiosity for learning new things spanned her lifetime. Her artistic talent and eye for design were apparent in everything she endeavored from classes in photography to china painting, ceramics to stained glass, to her bespoke interior decor. She had great appreciation for the performing arts, subscribing to Old Town's CAT and San Jose Rep for decades, then opera. Via television she caught every figure skating event, and later in life and quite out of the blue, she became a devoted Golden State Warriors fan, rarely missing a game. She loved museums, KQED shows and fully reveled in her diverse and extensive music and book collections.

She found beauty in antique and restored car shows and this led to the SFBA Mercedes Benz Club rally era. Eventually she and a fellow club friend joined forces and, ditching their husbands in jest, jumped in together and won 1st Place at the Carmel Valley Rally in 1985. She served as editor and beyond for the SFBA MB Club for several years and in 1987 was recognized nationally by the MB Club of America as Member of the Year for her outstanding achievement and contribution. Soon after that era she discovered a much deeper passion in volunteering for Los Medicos Voladores -The Flying Doctors. Via small plane, she traveled to remote communities in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico, serving as a dental assistant or in any role needed. Sandy's love for the people, culture and art of Mexico grew ever more. Eventually Sandy was writing the LMV newsletter, managing membership, and serving on the board. She completed Private Pilot Ground School and nursing and foreign travel nursing coursework on nights and weekends for good measure, all the while still working full-time for the aforementioned reconstructive surgeons. In her retirement years, she served on the board and landscape committee of the Villas of Los Gatos, her beloved home for many years.

Sandy loved to travel to the mountains whether it was in the Lake Tahoe region where her eldest daughter lived or National Parks including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, parks in Canada too. She appreciated their beauty and their importance in this world. Via boat, she ventured out to Channel Islands National Park to visit and assist her youngest daughter in the field where she was monitoring an endemic deer mouse population. Sandy's medical skills made her a natural.

Sandy moved to Napa in the last years of her life to be closer to her daughters Heidi and Holly. She greeted everyone with joy and her beautiful smile. A day never passed when she didn't express appreciation for those in her life. She rarely missed an opportunity to brighten someone's day with a sincere compliment and just enough humor. Her bright spirit touched and enriched the lives of so many, words cannot express how much she is missed.

Published in Los Gatan · April 6, 2026