Sandy gazed to the Heavens on Wednesday evening when she heard the Lord call her name and she left the tired physical body for a everlasting spiritual one surrounded by family and friends.
Born in Sarasota, Florida, she grew up in Ft. Myers, Florida, with her mother, father, and brother close by. Her dad loved working with fruit trees and plants and she felt right at home with her flowers and plants here.
She married her future lifelong partner in 1979 and we moved to Marshville, North Carolina. There she found a new calling in becoming an EMT. At the time there were not a lot of men in the town, so this little 100 pound woman along with two other women drove firetrucks, ambulances and made many a rescue call in the town and surrounding area. She felt this was one of her greatest achievements in helping others as a volunteer.
Her work in field medicine led her to start to work in Union Memorial Hospital in the newborn nursery. At that time it was the old building on the second floor. As the hospital grew and they build the next wing she moved over into it with all the nurses and worked inside the “fishbowl” as she called it.
She watched many a happy face staring in while she washed newborn babies for the first time and swaddled them to be sent out to the mothers. Many a time someone would approach her in a local store and tell her that she was in either their baby pictures or their mother’s baby pictures. Due to health reasons she had to retire shy of the 30 years she had hoped to serve.
In 1990, our daughter Crystal was born and unfortunately she had health problems that she dealt with. Her knowledge as a CNAII helped when there were hospitalizations, surgeries, and multiple trips to doctors’ offices. When we lost Crystal in 2000 from complications from a surgery, she longed to be a mother again. And by a newspaper clipping one of her supervisors gave her, we pursued adoption. We moved out of Marshville to the edge of Anson County in the spring of 2000.
After she retired on disability, her full-time job was raising Kayli, after we brought back the beautiful souvenir from China. She still maintained a loving warm home dealing with health issues and a growing daughter. Having inherited some of her mother’s anomalies, she wound up dealing with kidney functions and the end result was going onto dialysis. It changed her life having to schedule around treatments, but it was necessary. Other issues ultimately led to her succumbing the inability to keep the frail but strong willed body going forward.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Juanita Garner, and father, John Garner in Ft. Myers.
She is survived by her husband, Mitchell Wilson; a brother, Phillip Garner (Theresa) of Guin, Alabama; a daughter, Kayli of Raleigh North Carolina; and a niece, Angel Habig (Dave) of Ft Myers, Florida.
Graveside services will be at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 19, 2025, in Marshville Cemetery. The family will greet friends prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local fire department/rescue squad or take the time to visit that old friend or coworker that you haven’t seen in a while and brighten up their day.
Arrangements are in care of Leavitt Funeral Home and online condolences may be made at www.leavittfh.com.
