Sandra Lee Smith Herman was born October 31, 1936, in Toledo, Ohio, to Harold Lee and Elizabeth M. (Unser) Smith. She was the second oldest of eight children: Judith M. (Cletus) Smith Haupricht; Harold C. (Joan) Smith; Marilyn S. Smith (Roy) Hartman; Kathleen E. Smith; Donald I. Smith; Roger A. (Toni) Smith; Gary R. Smith.
On June 10, 1967, she married Kenneth William Herman and together they had two children: Cheryl Lee Herman (Timothy) Leppert; and Harry Alan Herman – who was married to Diana Hoops, and later to Joyce Wright Nunley. Sandy and Ken divorced in 1977 and she began work on the assembly line at Jeep, completing most of her career there as a sander in the paint shop, from which she retired. Sandy loved her work at Jeep and considered it one of the most rewarding parts of her life. She spent much of her retirement traveling the country by Amtrak in search of the “perfect” place to live, finally dreaming of settling in the Pacific Northwest. In the end, she felt a need to be closer to family, and spent much of her later life in Ohio. In her final years she moved to Missouri where she could receive greater assistance from her daughter. Sandra had a strong faith that carried her through much confusion in her life.
She passed peacefully on August 22, 2021, at the Village Care Center at John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She was preceded in death by both of her parents, as well as her sister Judy (1991), her son Harry (2016), and her ex-husband Ken (2016), and her brother Don (2020). She is survived by her remaining siblings, her daughter Cheryl and her husband & Tim and their children Moriah and Emma. Sandra is buried in Toledo (Ohio) Memorial Park, alongside her parents and her grandfather Neil C. Unser.
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