Sandra “Sandy” Sue Chitwood, 71 of Payson, AZ, departed this world for her eternal rest at home on Sunday, November 12 at 11:50 pm. A generally private, reserved woman, she was fierce when it came to things she loved: faith, family, friends, and sports teams like the 49ers. A lifelong San Francisco fan, she spent her final moments in this life watching the Niners trounce the Jacksonville Jaguars and telling her loving husband of 46 years (Robert “Bob” Chitwood) to shut up so she could hear the game.

Born to Andrew “Andy” Graham Hood Jr. and Mildred “Millie” Harriett (Henriksen) Hood in Alameda, CA on June 27, 1952, Sandy was baptized into the Lutheran faith just three months later in San Lorenzo. The youngest behind two older brothers — Drew and Lanny — her mother was Sandy’s lifelong best friend until her passing in 2020. Her brothers never let her forget that she was spoiled and favored. And she never let them forget how much they could make her blood boil…with love, of course.

A “funny lady,” as Bob said, with particular tastes, Sandy didn’t like to eat a whole host of things, including mushrooms, cilantro, or anything “green” for that matter. She did love red wine though and one of the final photos on her phone was a screenshot of a meme that said, “let’s drink wine and judge people together.” If she had her choice of who to do that with, her best friends Sue Lester and Denise Olson would have been at the top of the list. Nicknamed “Bummer” by her friends from Newark High School, Sandy was cooler than she let on, going to just about every concert she possibly could when she was younger, singing along with favorites like Elvin Bishop’s “Party Till The Cows Come Home.”

Never one to exactly love work, Sandy nevertheless served faithfully in many roles across her life, working at San Jose State University, Farmers Insurance and as a teacher’s assistant at Good Shepherd Lutheran School in Simi Valley, CA, probably the best job she ever had. It was while living in San Jose that she went out with Sue one night to Cloverleaf bowling alley in Fremont, CA and saw a “cute guy” drinking beer at the bar. As Sue and her were debating over who was gonna hit on Bob, he sauntered over, only having eyes for Sandy and her long blond hair. The three got breakfast after the bar shut down and Bob was stuck with the bill. He couldn’t have been happier, because about a month later he got a follow up date, back at another bowling alley, where he spent an hour looking for a ball that was light enough for Sandy to bowl.

They were married August 20, 1977 and Bob spent the next 46 years doing anything he could to make her happy, including caring for her every physical, spiritual, and emotional need in the last few months of her earthly existence. Bob and Sandy had two sons, Brett Daniel and Kenneth Wayne, whom they loved deeply because they were damn near perfect. Supportive of anything and everything her boys did (okay, maybe not everything) she showed them her love by leaving onions and bell peppers out of her famous spaghetti because Brett didn’t like them and letting Ken explore the world, even though she worried the whole time he was gone. The family often went on long drives and camping trips, to Indian Valley and Eagle Lake, later to the Mammoth Lakes, the Mogollon Rim, and a couple of epic long-range trips to national parks across the West and East all the way to Florida along the I-10 corridor. Besides finding good food to eat at diners, drive-ins and dives along the way, beating everyone at the game of 10,000, fishing with Bob, or enjoying a glass (or several) of Franzia boxed wine by the fire, she was always on the lookout for cardinals, lady bugs, crested saguaros, a good thunderstorm or snowstorm, old cemeteries and gravestones, as well as antiques to add to her collections of flower frogs, thermometers, spice boxes, snowmen and hull pottery. Most of the time, Sandy loved to just sit and take in God’s creation and always had a soft spot for animals of every kind, tearing up whenever she read stories about rescue dogs, for example. She loved many of her own pets over the years too: Buster, Jolie, Jake, Max, Wolf, Sasha and Tara. She also loved crafting and baking, with her coconut cream pie and chocolate rice krispies being highlights of the holidays for her extended family.

Sandy was preceded in heading to the forever party by her father Andy, mother Millie, and sister-in-law Donna Hood. Those left to honor her memory by hitting up taco Tuesdays at the local BBQ joint in Payson, drinking boxed wine, and enjoying an episode of House Hunters or a NASCAR race on Sunday afternoon are her husband Bob, sons Brett and Ken, daughters-in-law Christina Chitwood and Paula Roetscher, brothers Drew and Lanny Hood, and grandchildren Teagan Rae and Tristan Michael, whom she treasured playing with, watching videos of, and spoiling rotten with love and gifts over the last few years.

An old “red hymnal Lutheran” with an ardent trust in God’s goodness and grace, Sandy valued her church families in Fremont, CA; Benicia, CA; Simi Valley, CA; and Payson, AZ. A memorial service will be held at Prince of Peace in Fremont, CA on December 2, 2023, 2:30 pm, where her mother and father were charter members, Bob and she were married, and both her children baptized. Her life will be celebrated with some of her favorite hymns, like “Amazing Grace” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” as well as reflections on her confirmation verse, Romans 8:28 — “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

In lieu of flowers or Franzia, you can honor Sandy’s love for furry ones by making a donation to Marley’s Mutts Dog Rescue: https://www.marleysmutts.org/…

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