Sandra Hamlin Garske

Sandra was a proud fifth generation native of San Diego County and attended Sweetwater High School. She was crowned Miss National City in 1967 and was an avid Flamenco dancer throughout her teens. Like her mother before her, Sandra grew to become an accomplished seamstress and tailor helping to create many of her own pageant and performance dresses, and later, family wedding gowns and her own children’s Halloween and figure-skating costumes.

Sandra met the love of her life, Richard Donald Garske in the late 1960s when they both worked at the ‘First Edition,’ an upscale lounge in Mission Valley named for its walls lined with great literary works. At the time he was anxiously awaiting his bar exam results from the University of San Diego. The two wed in 1979 at USD’s Immaculata and cherished one another for 42 total years before his passing in 2013.

After leaving the First Edition, Sandra became a buyer for the (John) Hogan Co. which for many years was synonymous in Southern California with women’s high-end fashion. Sandra blossomed in the role and reveled traveling to Los Angeles and New York for business. Being a doting mother was her true calling though and she gladly transitioned to a stay-at-home mom once she became pregnant with her second child. Sandra leaned into every school function and fundraiser she could and regularly put her artistic talents and philanthropic nature to good use.

With a deep love for both flowers and fashion design, Sandra attended classes at Southwestern Community College in the early 1990s and became certified in floral design and accounting. For the remainder of her life, Sandra would amaze with a special affinity to create spectacular floral masterpieces for friends and family, birthdays, funerals, and too many weddings to count. She infused her love into each project, which was both felt and seen.

Sandra was a breast cancer survivor and being a devout Catholic is what she attributed her strength and grace during those tough years. She truly embodied everything the faith teaches and regularly went out of her way to make sure others were taken care of. The most avid reader, Sandra could never be found without a book later in life and gobbled up any love story she could find. She is survived by her son Grant, daughter Alexis, her loving cat Gypsy, brother Joe Paul Castellini and wife Debbie, brother Joseph “Rocky” Castellini and wife Meg, sister Merylee Stiffler and husband Dean, and cousin and best friend Mona DeNardo and husband Damien.

She will be forever missed by all who knew her. A Rosary will be held at St. Therese Parish in Del Cerro on Friday, Nov. 17 at 10:30 AM immediately followed by a funeral service beginning at 11 AM.