Sandra S. (Carpenter) Tindell

Sandra S. Tindell, 87, of Gilbert, Ariz., and formerly of Sun City West, joined her heavenly family on April 15, 2024, after a short illness. Sandra was born in Palmyra, Wis., on June 10, 1936, the first child of Alvin and Meta Carpenter. During her childhood, her father worked for the Milwaukee Road and the family moved to various towns in southern Wisconsin, eventually settling in Platteville before the start of her senior year of high school in 1953.

Early in 1954, she was at the roller-skating rink in town when she met a 1952 Platteville grad, Jim Tindell. They became engaged in May, shortly before her graduation. Jim had joined the U.S. Army and went to boot camp that summer. He returned home for a week’s leave and the couple married in Platteville on October 2, 1954. A week later the new groom shipped out to Germany. His bride moved to Madison, Wis., and began work as a telephone operator. Six months later, she had earned enough money for passage to Europe and left her home state to join her husband.

Not yet 19, Sandra journeyed alone, by train, from Madison to New York, where she boarded a ship and crossed the Atlantic. When she stepped ashore in Bremerhaven, she knew exactly one person on the entire continent, her husband. The newlyweds settled in Karlsruhe, near Jim’s base. Despite being unfamiliar with the language or culture, Sandra nevertheless provided a home for herself and her young husband in their tiny apartment. She had to keep a suitcase packed at all times, in the event of a Soviet invasion that would require evacuation of U.S. dependents to England.

Early in 1957, with their infant son David, the young family returned to America upon Jim’s discharge. They settled in Platteville, where Jim resumed his studies at the local university. Over the next three decades, the family added two more sons, Alan and Brian, as Jim worked in public education, first as a teacher and then as an administrator. While her boys were still in school, Sandra obtained a degree from UW-Platteville in 1974 and began working as an accountant. The couple moved to Arizona in 1984, eventually settling in Sun City West after retiring. Sandra and Jim were founding members of New Hope Fellowship Church. They traveled the world, on mission trips together and on cruises with their sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Sandra was a woman who knew hardship as a child of the Depression and World War II, but she also knew great love from her parents and siblings, a love of family which she would bring to her own as a young wife and mother. Most of all, she learned to love the Lord, a faith that she taught to her boys, and which later sustained her through Jim’s final illness and passing. During the last months of her life, Sandra overcame her own health challenges to make one final visit to Wisconsin to visit her family, and then attended her granddaughter’s wedding just a few weeks before the Lord called her home. She will be deeply missed by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as her many friends. She had a kind word for everybody she met, and her relentless optimism and faith inspired us all.

Sandra Tindell is survived by her three sons, David (Susan) of Birchwood, Wis., Alan (Carol) of Richland, Wash., and Brian (Irene) of Gilbert, Ariz; her grandchildren, Kimberly (Michael) Marolda, James A. (Jessica) Tindell, Ian (Rachel) Tindell, Zachary Tindell, Yvonne (Will) Tindell Beger, and John Tindell; and three great-grandchildren, Everett James Tindell, Julian Elias Tindell and Pasquale James Marolda. Also surviving Sandra are her sister, Linda Witz of Platteville, Wis., and brother Dennis (Diana) Carpenter of Cuba City, Wis. She was preceded in death by her husband, James J. Tindell; her parents, Alvin and Meta Carpenter; a sister, Mary Jane Carpenter; and a brother, Gerald John Carpenter.

 A celebration of the life of Sandra Tindell will be held at New Hope Fellowship Church in Sun City West, Ariz., at 11am on June 27, 2024, with Pastor Richard Van Heukelum presiding. Interment will be at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona on June 28. Memorials may be sent to St. Mary’s Food Bank of Phoenix, Ariz., and the Arizona Humane Society.

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