Carol E. Sandaal went home to our Heavenly Father on Sunday, September 22, 2024. She passed peacefully listening to the Lord's Prayer at her daughter's home in Salem, Oregon after a valiant fight against melanoma.

Born on February 9, 1936 in a snowstorm in Gresham, Oregon, Carol was the third child of Gertrude (nee' Sharkey) and Winfield H. Brandt. After living in Gresham for several years, Carol moved with the family to the Brandt farm in Silverton, Oregon following the death of her paternal grandfather. There the family took up the dairy farming business and Carol often fondly recalled days spent milking, raising ducks, and many other agricultural activities. At the farm, two more siblings completed the family and together they spent leisure time in high spirits making music, appearing in plays and enjoying the outdoors. One family story involves a bike ride down East Main hill that left the daredevil young Carol with a scar on her knee.

Carol attended St. Paul's Parish school in Silverton and Mt. Angel Academy in Mt. Angel. After a year at Mt. Angel Women's College, she followed her father's footsteps to Oregon State University where she majored in business and minored in horticulture, heralding a lifelong love of gardening. Graduating in 1958, Carol accepted a position with Coos County as a social worker and set off on a great adventure. While in Coos County, she enjoyed pizza from the Bamboo Curtain, traveled to Crater Lake and took a road trip to San Francisco with her sister Katherine and friends which featured raising a glass at the Top of the Mark.

Coos Bay was also where Carol met a handsome young Air Force lieutenant over albums browsing in a record store. A double date to the base Halloween party was the start of something special and the two soon fell deeply in love. Carol and Joe were married at St. Paul's Catholic Church on a sunny day in November, 1960, a union that would last 50 years until Joe's death in 2010. Their Air Force career took them to Marysville, California, Fargo, North Dakota, and finally to Southern California where daughter Christine was born.

After Joe's retirement from the Air Force the family moved back to Silverton and built a home adjacent to the Brandt's Ivy Oak Century Farm. Sons Stephen and Daniel followed soon thereafter and Carol dedicated herself to making a fun and loving family home. This included welcoming Silvia Pazos, who arrived as an exchange student from Uruguay for the 1984-85 school year and left as a daughter, remaining close via letters and emails.

An accomplished gardener and baker, Carol also enjoyed volunteering at Silverton Area Community Aid, Meals on Wheels, her children's classrooms and annually at the St. Paul Knights of Columbus booth at the Oktoberfest. Carol was a longstanding member of the board for St. Paul's Catholic Cemetery. In her later years, she obtained a food handler's certification so that she could support the afterschool program for Mark Twain students.

Carol was a hard worker who was never known to sit still for long. She always had a project and was always willing to recruit others to be out doing and making a difference. Once her children were well into school, she returned to the workforce as an instruction aide in the special education classroom at Robert Frost. Friendships made while at Robert Frost were enjoyed by Carol and Joe enjoyed into their retirement. The longstanding fellowship with their bible study discussion group was a wellspring of joy and strength, with much love, tears and laughter shared together over the years.

Carol was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph R. Sandaal, her son, Steve, and her sister Patricia. Carol is survived by her son, Daniel and wife Erin, grandsons Zach (Taylor) Hillegas and Greg Jones, great grandchildren Ava and Grace Hillegas; daughter Christine and husband Drew Clarke, grandchildren Paige (Ben) Vaughn, Will Clarke, Quinn Clarke, Wyatt Clarke and Piper Clarke; sisters Katherine Huber and Mary Rose Brandt; brother John and wife, Jan. Known as Aunt Doodie, Carol had a close relationship with her many nephews and nieces across several generations.

Funeral services will be held at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Silverton, Oregon on October 5, 2024, with viewing at 0930, Rosary at 1030 and Mass at 1100 followed by internment at St. Paul's Catholic Cemetery immediately thereafter. The family is grateful for the excellent health care Carol received in Silverton and Salem over the years and extends particular thanks to the caregivers from A Golden Hand Home Care and Willamette Vital Health hospice in the last months of her life.