Sandra Faye Lyons: October 2, 1940 - October 31, 1999

Sandra was born to Roy and Una Lyons in Colibran, Colorado. She was saved as an 11-year-old, after attending a Fuller Evangelistic meeting where the chalk artist's salvation message penetrated her heart.

Sandra attended Biola College, receiving her B.A. in education in 1962. While at college, Sandra was involved in teaching VBS and children's Sunday school classes, and spent one summer as an American Sunday School Union missionary in Colorado. A growing conviction that God wanted her to teach missionary children led Sandra to apply to ABWE in 1961. She was appointed to Upper Amazon, Peru in 1962, and arrived on the field a year later.

Sandra's 16 years in Iquitos, Peru were spent performing a multitude of tasks. In addition to teaching missionary children, she served as field council treasurer, Bible institute instructor, and ladies' Sunday school teacher. Some of her many responsibilities included making weekly trips to the bank and government offices, balancing accounts, writing a field treasurer's manual, and assisting in the production of ABWE's film "Amazon Gold."

When Sandra returned to the United States in 1980 to care for her ailing mother, she joined the missionary finance department of ABWE's Home Office. There her training on the field served her in good stead as she handled monthly missionary remittances, health insurance claims, and tax forms.

Sandra continued working in the office full-time until 1998, when her failing heart created even more severe lung problems. She began the process for receiving a lung transplant, while working part-time at the office as her health permitted. Sandra had moved to the top of the transplant list by September 1999, but doctors decided to remove her name from the list because they considered her case "too high a risk."

Sandra is survived by her siblings, Fran Escolas, Steven Lyons, and Carol Tribble.