Sandra Mae Menczer

The adventurous and colorful journey of Sandy Menczer came to a peaceful conclusion in the early morning hours of Friday, July 7, 2023, when she passed away in her sleep at the age of 80 following a brief hospitalization.

To quote the lede from a brief biography of her life penned by this author as part of a 6th Grade project: “Many people say that they entered this world with a roar. In Sandy Patterson’s case, this [was] not a sarcastic phrase.” Sandy was born on August 27, 1942, to Doris A. (Dreinhofer) Patterson and James A. Patterson at Deasoness Hospital – directly across the street from the St. Louis Zoo. Her parents would later inform her that she entered this world to the sound of lions roaring in the background. In like fashion, Sandy roared through life in a bold and fearless manner that filled her years on this earth with a breadth of experience and adventure most people can only imagine.

Sandy and her younger brother Jimmy, who arrived two years later, grew up surrounded by multigenerational extended family in Webster Groves, one of the oldest suburban neighborhoods of St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from Webster Groves High School in 1960, then went on to Drury College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education in 1964. While she dearly loved her hometown throughout her life, her intrepid spirit led her to eschew a return to the comfort and familiarity of Webster Groves after graduation. Instead, she took a position teaching third grade in North Kansas City.

For two years she scrimped and saved until she finally scraped together enough money to embark on the grand tour of Europe she had long dreamed of. During this first adventure Sandy had a chance encounter on a Eurail train car that profoundly altered the arch of her story. Chatty and friendly by nature, Sandy happened to befriend a fellow passenger who was living in Europe and working for the Department of Defense as a teacher for the children of U.S. military personnel stationed abroad. Sandy was hooked and signed up immediately.

Advised that her chances for acceptance would be greatly enhanced if she was flexible on where she was willing to be sent, Sandy volunteered to start anywhere. Her flexibility was rewarded as she was accepted into the program and assigned to the U.S. Air Force Base in Goose Bay Labrador, Newfoundland – located roughly shouting distance from the Artic Circle. After a year of gritting her teeth and paying her dues in the bitter cold (in the winter months she commuted to her classroom via 14 feet deep trenches dug through the mountains of winter snow), Sandy was transferred to Ehrlangen, Germany – just outside of Nuremberg.

It was there in October of 1969 that she met a young freshly minted Army lieutenant named Stephen Menczer. A whirlwind romance ensued, and six weeks later – four of which Steve spent in the field and completely incommunicado – they were engaged. They married a few short months later on April 18, 1970. (Of course meeting the love of her life and planning a wedding did not prevent Sandy from taking her previously planned tour of Asia over Christmas break 1969 – the new guy was great and all, but India, Kathmandu, and Sri Lanka still beckoned.)

Sandy spent the following years crisscrossing the country and the globe with Stephen as he ascended the ranks in the Army. From Georgia to Alabama, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, back to Germany, Massachusetts, and finally Harker Heights, Texas – for 53 years they never left each other’s side. Even when Steve deployed to Vietnam in March 1971, Sandy – audacious as ever – flew to Bangkok that December while he was on leave so they could spend Christmas together. (The woman was a force of nature when she made up her mind, and neither war nor half a world of distance were going to prevent her from following her heart to where she had determined she needed to be.)

After Stephen’s safe return in 1972, he and Sandy embarked on their next great adventure together: raising a family. Stephen James arrived first in 1975, and Christopher Michael followed shortly thereafter in 1977. In those two, Sandy discovered her next great passion in life – being a mom. Sandy loved her children and family fiercely. She was tough as nails when she needed to be, but also possessed a warm heart capable of immense care and devotion. This extended beyond the bounds of her own family and many of her kids’ childhood friends looked at her as a “second mom.”

Though the frequent moves of life in the Army did not allow her to continue on as a teacher, she spent the remainder of her life teaching her own children – not just to read and write, but to truly value education.

Sandy was loyal and steadfast to a countless array of friends, and her heart and home were always open to a loved one in need. When a lifelong friend from Webster Groves fell on particularly hard times, Sandy did not flinch. She welcomed her friend into their family home for nearly a year until she was able to get back on her feet.

Sandy was staunchly opinionated, while also uncommonly honest and forthright. Suffice to say: if you did something she did not approve of, you were absolutely going to hear about it. She was as strong and formidable a woman as you could ever encounter. Twice she faced down Cancer and beat it. And while her second bout with that cursed disease robbed her of a bit of her tenacity, her fortitude and courage in battling back to health gave her 17 more years with her family and allowed her to meet all five of her grandchildren whom she loved and cherished above anything in this wide beautiful world she spent a lifetime exploring. Ma/MeeMaw adored her grandchildren with an intensity that words cannot capture. She lived to love those kids, and they provided her with surpassing joy and happiness even in the bleakest of dark days.

And so, Sandra Mae Menczer has left us after a life well lived, and found the peace and rest she had so very well earned. She will be dearly missed by all of us who knew and loved her, but the indelible impact she made will reverberate in us for the rest of our days.

Sandy was predeceased by her parents, James A. and Doris A. Patterson.

She is survived by her husband, Stephen E., her two children, Stephen J., and his wife Laura, and Christopher, and his wife, Shelby, her five grandchildren, Grant, Peyton, Mia, Travis, and Owen, her brother, James “Goat” Patterson, her sister-in-law, Phyllis Patterson, her niece, Amanda (Patterson) Doherty, her nephew, Mark Patterson, and her brother and sister-in-law, Kirk and Monica Menczer.

A Visitation and Rosary will be from 6:00-8:00 PM, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at Crawford Bowers Funeral Home in Killeen. A Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00AM, Thursday, July 20, 2023 at St Paul's Catholic Church in Harker Heights, Texas. Burial will follow at 1:00 PM at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery.

I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Until we meet again in Glory--We love you, Mom.