Obituaries
Obituary for Sandra Kay Post
Sandra Kay Post nee Dempsey, 74, died February 16, 2023 at home with her family by her side in Bartonville, IL, after a long battle with cancer.
Mother, wife, life-long Catholic, journalist, coupon-user (expired or no), question-asker, occasional casino-goer, Peoria-lover, silent auction enthusiast, fan of the underdog, “grammie” to seven grandchildren aka her “angels”, Sandra was born on May 8, 1948 in Peoria, IL to Lillian and Earl Dempsey.
She attended St. Cecilia Grade School and Academy of our Lady. Quick to acquire and keep friends her whole life, Sandy eagerly attended monthly Bunco games, pinochle parties and dinners with the “Academy Girls.”
Though writing was the constant of her working life, Sandy wasn’t always in front of a keyboard while pulling in a paycheck. She also took to the skies. She was employed at Ozark Airlines from 1966 to 1973 where she met her future husband, Terry Lee Post, and, of course, made a bevy of new friends who became lifelong friends. She and Terry married on April 17, 1971, and in 2021 she was so proud to celebrate 50 years of a life built together with him. Though, as a Cubs fan, Sandy did have to forgive Terry’s fascination with a certain St. Louis team.
Sandy and Terry welcomed three children, Michael, Tiffany and Tara, in quick succession. And at age 36, the time seemed right to return to the classroom, first at Illinois Central College before finishing at Bradley University. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1989 with a degree in Philosophy. Plato and Aristotle, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, studying them fed her natural curiosity and need to ask the big “Why?” questions.
One professor was impressed with a paper in college and encouraged her to submit her writing to area newspapers for publication. She did so and her decades long career in journalism took flight with a letter to her then 8th grade son. Her column "From a Different View" first appeared in the Limestone Independent News on November 25, 1987. She wrote for many Peoria-area publications over the years including the Community Word, Senior News and Views, Healthy Cells. She also loved charity and community work which led her to positions at the Peoria Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Neighborhood House and Southside Manor.
Two of Sandy’s great joys were family and travel. For more than ten years, these two joys were brought together in an annual summer tradition. All fifteen members of her family, including her children, their spouses and her grandchildren, would gather in a new place for a week, making memories and supporting her mission that her grandchildren have every opportunity to become best friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents and two four-legged friends, Fluffy and Gucci.
She is survived by husband Terry, three children Michael (Susanne) of Nashville, TN; Tiffany (Chad) of Wheaton, IL; and Tara (Jeff) of Brimfield, IL and seven grandchildren: Julien, Emma, Liliana, Kallen, Jensen, Brinley and Amelie.
In lieu of flowers, donations made be made to Easter Seals DuPage & Fox Valley (830 S. Addison Ave., Villa Park, IL 60181) and St. Anthony’s Capital Improvement Fund (2525 S. Skyway Rd., Bartonville, IL 61607).
Services will be held on March 4, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Bartonville, her home church of nearly 45 years. All are invited to attend a luncheon in the Parish Hall afterwards. In a final act of kindness, Sandy donated her body to medical science.
She will be greatly missed. For her questions, her easy laugh, her intellect, her kindness, her friendship, her cards with the ever present torn-from-a-magazine-perfume-sample, for all these things and more. But mostly, for the love she showed others.
Previous Events
Memorial Mass
Saturday
4
Mar
11:00 AM
St. Anthony Catholic Church
2525 S. Skyway Rd.
Bartonville, IL 61607
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