Sandal Banker

Sandal faced many adversities but couldn't overcome the final one - her battle with cancer took her life just before sunrise on October 29, 2011 in her home in Ilwaco, WA. She took her last breath in the embrace of her three children, Daniel, Kimberly and Laura, and with her sister Robin by her side. Besides her children, she leaves behind several siblings who love her as she did them. Her younger siblings Anne, George, Joan, and Mary were like kids to her, so by the time she had her own children she was well-versed in being a caring parent - not to mention changing diapers. Her older sisters Pam and Robin shared a special bond with Sandal as it was the three of them who lost their own mother when they were young. Born in Detroit just after World War II, Sandal was a true "baby boomer" along with millions in her generation. Her father was a respected doctor who served during the war and met her mother after returning from the Asia-Pacific conflict. Her mother, although Sandal remembered her just barely after her tragic death when Sandal was just five years old, was a creative, progressive, and compassionate housewife who doted on her daughters while her husband worked long hours at the hospital. There wasn't a day Sandal didn't feel the pain of the loss of her mother, but she shielded others from her pain almost every day of the year besides the one impossible to - Mother's Day. Sandal loved writing and literature, and many will remember her wit and sense of humor. She leaves behind several journals with her poems, stories, and memories of childhood summers at the lake house. She excelled in many areas in high school and started college but left early to pursue her first true passion in life - raising three children. Sandal married Sherwin Snyder in Wichita, Kansas and within four years had a son and twin girls. With the many difficulties that had faced Sandal in her youth, her children gave her purpose and unconditional love. Those years were among her happiest - chasing around toddlers, baking cakes with lurid decorations for every season, and playing Beatles record upon Beatles record. After divorce when her kids were young, Sandal married her second husband, Mike Porter, who not only loved Sandal but helped raise her kids as his own. Sandal was always careful however not to bias her kids and made sure that both their father and stepfather were important parts of their lives. Thanks to the creativity and work ethic she instilled in them, all three of Sandal's children went on to college and advanced degrees, something that she was always beaming proud to everyone about. Having not finished college, Sandal also knew she was too intelligent and restless to just sit around and watch her kids grow up and leave home for school. In 1985 she completed one of her life's prized achievements and received a nursing degree with honors. She went on to a successful career as an RN caregiver in Arizona, a role that came so naturally to her. Sandal was one of the most respected and sought-after acute care nurses in the county. Sandal moved to the Long Beach Peninsula in 2000 to start the next phase of her life and be close to her sisters Pam and Robin. While she was still strong enough she loved to walk along the beach, feel the sand, and hear the waves. But one of the greatest gifts the Peninsula gave her was her caregiver Schehara Kinney. Schehara's compassionate and caring spirit was just what Sandal needed in her last years. Schehara shared some of Sandal's last joys and of course her last pain, never leaving her side. For this Sandal's family is eternally grateful. Sandal is in a better place now, free of the pain and the cancer and the Ilwaco winters. Hopefully she's at her beloved grandparents' Michigan summer house on Walnut Lake where she'd spend summers doing all the things kids do with grandparents in the summer - swimming and playing pranks and hide and seek and cookouts under the warm summer sky, hoping that summer never ends. At her request, no formal servies will be held. Arrangements under the direction of Penttila's Chapel by The Sea, Long Beach. Her guestbook may be signed at www.penttilaschapel.com.