Sandra Johnson Lafky

Sandra “Sandy” Johnson Lafky was a woman of strength and softness, love and advocacy, and above all: family. And it was her family who surrounded and supported her through a trying journey with cancer, creating a loving cocoon in which she peacefully passed away in the early morning hours of February 2, 2024. She comes from a family of caregivers. Born February 20th, 1956 in Memphis, TN, she was raised by her wonderful parents Gilbert Lee Johnson and Josephine Johnson along with her four siblings: Debra Russell (Shane Russell), MaryJean Collier (Alan Collier), Kevin Johnson, and Karen Johnson. From a young age, she loved the ocean and eagerly anticipated family trips in the station wagon, driving over eight hours to Panama City beach. She ventured to the West Coast when she was 22, traveling in a Volkswagen bus with friends, spending a season in the Tetons skiing, and working as an apple picker in an orchard in Washington, where she met the love of her life, Alan Lafky. They knew immediately they wanted to grow a family, so together they moved to Alan’s family home in Tualatin, Oregon where they raised their three children: Alyson Larkin (Andrew Larkin), Evan Lafky, and Katie Lafky (Matt Shaffer). Sandy devoted the next 15 years to her children and her community as a stay-at-home mom, involved in their schools, and in the world around her. She was a steady, comforting mother and a strong, tenacious advocate for justice. She protected the local heritage trees, diligently recycled, and developed a passion for women’s healthcare. In 1995, at the age of 39, she made the bold decision to go back to school to become a nurse. She graduated with her BSN from OHSU in 1999 and her Masters in 2014. Her OB nursing career started at Silverton Hospital in 1999 and eventually took her to OHSU. Throughout her 24-year career, she worked as a mother-baby and Labor & Delivery nurse, nurse manager, director of women’s health services, and eventually patient safety specialist/nurse. She worked to change systems to better support nurses and patients, to provide more resources to women, and to share in her passion and appreciation for birth. In Sandy’s later years, she was blessed to attend many of the births of her four grandchildren: Ayden Larkin, Asher Larkin, Arrow Larkin, and Iris Shaffer. She often expressed that her greatest gift in life was her children and grandchildren, whose lives have been deeply touched by her values and gifts. She was intuitive and practical, empathetic and resourceful, courageous, and wicked funny. She delighted in many simple pleasures— quilting and live music, tending her garden, and researching her ancestry. She loved antiquing, restoring furniture and sewing machines, and spending time quilting on the Metolius River. What she loved, she shared with others. To her children, she’s passed on a love of community, of deep connection to nature, of advocacy and generosity, of healthcare work, and of mothering. She’s remembered by her family as the kind of woman who climbs higher to improve the lives of those who come next, as a person who was quiet, but not timid and who always knew what to say, and as the kind of mother whose children’s friends even called mom. Her vibrant, incredible life embodied this wisdom from Mother Teresa: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Her presence on earth will be immensely missed. In lieu of flowers, Sandy has requested that donations go to these organizations which were close to her heart: Wallisha E. Wade Scholarship- https://www.abnao.org/willeshas-memorial St. Jude Children’s Hospital in honor of Zadie Mae Diggs- www.stjude.org/donate Yamhill Valley Community Doulas- https://www.yamhillvalleycommunitydoulas.com/ Real Good Dog Rescue- https://www.realgooddogrescue.com/

Sandra Johnson Lafky

February 20, 1956 - February 2, 2024