Sandra-Lee Blake Parent, of Bradenton, FL, succumbed to complications of an illness at Sarasota Memorial Hospital on 28 January. Sandy, the wife of J. Elmer Parent, loving mother of Lt Col Christopher Parent, USAF (Ret), and step-grandmother of Santiago Alzate Castro, was born in Salem, MA on July 23 1940. She was the daughter of Frances Foss and Merritt Blake of Peabody, MA, graduated from Gordon College in 1961 and earned a Master of Social Work from Boston University in 1979.
Sandy served over 20 years as the Director of Social Work at the former Hunt Memorial Hospital in Danvers, MA, and later served as the Director at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in Pawtucket, and Hahnemann Hospital in Brighton, MA.
El and Sandy lived in Danvers and Lynnfield, MA for over 30 years, eventually retiring in Hampton, N.H. and Bradenton, FL. Like her mother, Sandy loved chorale music which she began singing in college. She sang in the Newburyport Choral Society, and after moving to Florida, in the Anna Maria Island Chorus and Orchestra and Sarasota’s Key Chorale. She loved the vision of the current Artistic Director, Maestro Joe Caulkins, especially the inclusion of youth training, Cirque Des Voix and the Off-Key Chorale.
Sandy was a humanist beyond her work, as well as an animal lover. Over the years she assisted at Southeast Guide Dogs as a volunteer scheduler, conducted assessments of adult family care homes under the long-term care ombudsman program, and visited hospice patients with her special cat, Bello. A service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota on Sunday, Feb 10, at 2:30 p.m. Donations to the Sarasota Key Chorale are preferred in lieu of flowers.