Anna Marie Sandage (Smith)

My momma was always a character. One time she danced and ran on the roof to scare the children we had over for a Halloween party -- and did it in such a way we never figured out how it was done until daddy told me. Really was sneaky and we had ruled momma out immediately as being the one doing this.

Another halloween as she was replacing a broken front door lock some kids came up to trick or treat and she looked at them (with all the parts around her) and said, "You -- you're the one who tricked me!" and off they went yelling and screaming.

It was appropriate that she died halloween time -- and yes, she was still up to her old tricks then -- making Clifford get a smoke bomb's smoke in his face as he chased a chicken that was under the car, the clouds and moon not moving as we drove over 50miles yet it was very windy, the rat running in the livingroom from pantry in kitchen -- and ran right under the legs of the big dogs and the cat (tail to head underneath) then climbing up upon a floor lamp and sitting on the top of the shade (and then the littlest dog finally killed it after it jumped off). yep -- always up to her tricks and yet still letting us know she was still around watching over all of us.

The day of her funeral it was so windy that the tent wanted to come down and we had to put down the flaps so we could even have the funeral -- yet up in the sky there was an angel made up of clouds -- it was there for over an hour while all the other clouds went rushing by it (above, below and around it they just moved out of the way to pass "her". Just wish I had a camera to have photographed it -- I mentioned it to several and they all saw it immediately too. Imagine one of those angels that you see at Christmastime stretched out left to right with a bugle/trumpet in the mouth -- well that was almost exactly what it looked like but without the musical instrument!!!

She was a "superwoman" long before the term was being used in the 80s -- career, family, going on trips with her boyfriends (like one to yellowstone national park), being on snow/avalanche rescue team, writing a book for the government, buying a car when in her 20s (and first one in the family since even her dad and momma didn't have a car), holding 4 part-time jobs during the depression while others couldn't get work -- and this so she could help feed and clothe her brothers and sister and parents, etc.

I know we all miss her - yet she is always with us too and seeing all the beautiful new additions to her grandchildren too.