Sandra Stephan Weigandt

Sandra Stephan Weigandt, Age 67, passed away peacefully at Wellstar Tranquility Hospice on Monday, April 18th, 2016, in Marietta, GA. She was an extraordinary Wife, Mother and Grandmother. Her life was devoted to making sure every one in her family was happy and loved. Sandy is survived by her husband of forty-four years, Greg Weigandt of Marietta, GA. Her wonderful sons and daughters and their spouses, Cameron (Dr. Pamela) Weigandt of Kennesaw, Georgia, Maxwell (Leslie) Weigandt, of Chicago, IL, and daughter Michelle (Scott) Hall of Atlanta, Georgia. She felt very blessed to have seven beautiful amazing grandchildren that she loved more than life itself, Katherine, Max, Amelia, Auden and Dexter Weigandt, and Courtney and Jesse Hall. Sandy is also survived by sister in law Marsha (Bill) Stephan, brother in law Jim (Nancy) Bartelt and many nieces, nephews. Sandy was preceded in death by her father Jack Stephan, mother Helen Stephan, sister Nancy Bartelt, and brother Bill Stephan. Sandy was born August 31, 1948 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in 1970 with a Bachelors Degree in Social Work. She worked for several years as a Social Worker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she helped many persons in need including Veterans, elderly and single mothers with children. Sandy also worked for nineteen years in the Cobb County School System at primarily Kell High School as a teacher in the Special Education Department where she counseled, nurtured and helped students succeed in their education. The family would like to send a special thank you Sandy's wonderful friends who helped with her healing and support of her husband Greg. Marsha Stephan and Lisa Cornell went on a cruise with Sandy just weeks before her fall. Sandy said it was the "best time in her life". Janet Pappanduros was Sandy's team leader and they became best friends forever. Janet was at Sandy's side comforting her many days and loved her very much. A visitation will be held at Southern Cremations and Funerals at Cheatham Hill in the Columbarium on Saturday, April 23,2016, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm followed by a brief funeral service at 4:00 pm. 1861 Dallas Highway SW, Marietta, GA 30064. More information can be seen at www.SouthernCremations.com. A catered reception and memory sharing will follow at Chestnut Ridge Community House. In lieu of flowers gifts can be sent to Shepherd Center Foundation, 2020 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, Georgia, 30309, www.shepherd.org. The non-profit Shepherd Center was key in helping Sandy's initial rehabilitation from her traumatic brain injury. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tribute to Sandy: Monday morning I lost Sandy, the love of my life, my beautiful wife of forty-four years. Together we proudly raised three incredibly talented, devoted, kind and loving children who blessed us with the most amazing grandchildren one can imagine. Sandy deeply loved our children and especially our grandchildren as much as life itself. She devoted her life to them from the first day they were born. She always wanted to hug and kiss them whenever possible. She loved to teach them to read, play dress up with them, do arts and crafts projects, and drive them to events, nurtured them and encouraged them to succeed. When we moved into our new home she made sure it was superbly kid friendly. Storage rooms and closets were remodeled into kids playrooms and sleeping quarters. Shelves and cabinets were filled with paper, pencils, markers, pictures, paints, stickers, games and numerous books, and other super fun kids stuff. She protected all of her pride like a lioness with her cubs. She taught them to be respectful, kind, loving and thoughtful of others. She made sure they had as much fun and joy in their lives as possible. When "Grandma Sandy" or "Mimi Georgia" was with the grandkids you could see the love in her eyes when she looked at them. When she talked to them you could hear the angelic adoring tone in her voice. When she hugged and kissed them the room would fill with sweet warmth and joy. When the grandchildren stayed for a special night at our house she made sure they received extra large portions of hugs and kisses and sang tender songs to them until they peacefully fell asleep. Our children and grandchildren reciprocated with undying love of Sandy. Nothing is better than knowing and feeling your children and grandchildren love you without question. Knowing this brought a smile to my face every time I saw her during her struggles over the last 14 months and now every time I think of her. Those of you who knew her know what I mean. Sandy is in a special place in heaven right now for super moms and grandmas with her dad Jack, mom Helen, and sister Nancy and brother Bill. They were all incredible people in an amazing family. She is at peace with them and loved by all. Please remember Sandy as my adorable high school sweetheart, wonderful partner and the beautiful woman I married over forty years ago. Remember her smiling face and the way she proudly and lovingly talked about her children and grandchildren. Remember the happiness in her voice. Remember the good times you had with her. Remember the laughter and love she shared with you. Goodbye my sweet Sandy, extraordinary loving mother and grandmother. You will be missed greatly by all who had the wonderful pleasure of knowing you. Know that I will always love you, Greg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sandy Weigandt Eulogy presented by Son Max Weigandt Friends ... family ... Thanks so much for coming. It means a lot to our family! No one ever wants to say goodbye. Not to those they love. Those they won't see for a while. But few have ever deserved a goodbye celebration like my Mom does. Few have ever spent a life so continuously thinking about those around her. About what would make them happy and sacrificing anything she could, to make that happen. But that, I think… no I know was the essence of my mom. And I don't just mean her kids. I don't just mean her grandkids. Or her husband. Or her mother or her brother and sister or animals, which she loved. I mean ALL OF THEM and more. Everyone in her life, she was looking out for them. But whoever you were, you'd never know it. You'd swear you were the center of her world because of how much she gave to us all. I'm not even sure, with three busy kids, how you attended every single basketball game and soccer game and cheerleading event or pretty much anything else that was important to us. But she was there always and smiling. Some of our friends and definitely our spouses here might even grin and say that her children were a little too coddled by her, with her making our beds even when we were in high school, and doing our laundry well into our college years. But let me tell you how much that made us feel like we had a mom there for us. Like she had our backs. And she always did, and the laundry was a reason to go home and spend time with her, which we both loved. My siblings and I also have several of our childhood friends here today because I'm pretty sure they would have considered her Mom 2.0. She would have done anything for them when we were growing up, and even after she lost touch with them in our older years, she never failed to ask us about them. She would be thankful you all our here and so are we. If that weren't enough kids in her life, she had plenty more in her students. But she never called them her students. They were her kids too. And just to make that real for you, there was once a young girl in her class that mom helped with a learning disability who didn't graduate despite her tireless efforts to learn and graduate. But Mom loved the effort and knew she deserved recognition, so she bought this girl a graduation necklace to commemorate her achievements. That was the sort of care she gave to so many. And while giving all this attention to all her kids, she remained devoted to her own rapidly aging and declining mother too, and called her every day. Had she lived closer, I know she would have given even more of herself to be with her mom and often felt bad she was not closer. But I also know how extremely grateful she was to her brother Bill, and devoted sister in law Marsha, Nancy her sister and Lisa for all the time and effort they gave caring for my grandmother so I know she would want me to thank them. Now I already feel exhausted thinking about how many people she was caring for, and I haven't even mentioned all those she helped as a social worker in her younger days. So you can see she how she spent her whole life devoted to others that needed her, students that needed her, and of course her family. But I can't really talk about her love and devotion without mentioning her grandchildren, who she gave so much of her energy and heart to. She gave them the kind of attention that's sometimes is hard to find the time for -- but she found the time. She did things like arts and crafts, singing and reading them books and helped them to learn how to read. You'll hear a little more about that in a very special book she loved from Cam after I'm done here. What I can tell you is that, when we cleaned out her house, we found toys and things for the grandkids everywhere and I mean everywhere. It kind of put a punctuation mark on everything she stood for -- building a life around others and most importantly her grandchildren. And most especially, that meant building a life around Dad who loves his grandchildren and children just as much as she did. Dad, I have learned the strongest lessons from you about bravery, steadfastness, compassion and doing everything you could and what's right for Mom and our family, during these past 14 months since Mom's fall. I can only say how very very proud I am to have watched your strength, your dedication, your unwavering devotion, your buttering up of the nurses with your sometimes bad jokes, well most times, candy making and long long long stories used to make them work harder for mom, but most importantly your tireless efforts to fight for mom to get better even when the hope started to fade and your constant love for Mom during this difficult time. The way you have handled this situation in one to be admired by all and one that Cam, Misti and I will never forget and will always be thankful for. Dad we are all so grateful that you and mom have given all of us enough love during your lifetime for us to feel the loved for our entire lives no matter what happens. As I said, no one ever wants to say goodbye. Not to those they love. Those they won't see for a while. But few have earned their recognition and their rest like my Mom did. After so much effort to recover over this last year, it was good and right that she moved on and end her suffering. After all, she's already stamped her lasting legacy here, on her husband, on her kids on her grandchildren, on ALL her kids, which I'm pretty sure means everyone here. Mom, we'll miss you, but we still feel your love, and the grandkids will always know you are watching over them. I will make sure of that, I promise. All of us will know you're always here. And we have a job ahead of us to take care of all your kids with the same passion you had in your life. Thank you for coming. Max April 23, 2016