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Community Activist Jean Sandman Dies

June 11, 2008

“We get calls about anything from a suicide to people stranded to questions about area agencies,” she told the Journal in 1993.

The center provides an array of services to people living in the tri-state area, from emergency family shelter to consumer credit counseling. In a 1994 Joe DuBray, chairman of the board, told the Journal the organization changed drastically since it was founded, praising Sandman for providing able direction in making those changes possible.

In 1975 Sandman, along with officials from the Iowa Department of Social Services, United Way, Area Agency on Aging and the YMCA, established the center, which grew out of the Traveler’s Aid Office.

She started an internship program for students from area colleges and created a community resource directory. The center’s board created the Jean Sandman Heritage Roll of Honor to recognize people and families who have left money to the agency in their estate plans.

Sandman was among the Woodbury County residents who composed the MRHD Board of Directors at its inception in 1989 when riverboat gaming was approved by voters. She served as board secretary from 1989 to 1994.

When she retired from the board in 2005, MRHD president Mark Monson said, “We are deeply grateful for Jean Sandman’s dedication to serving Woodbury County residents. She has inspired us to continue to strive for increased quality of life for all who live here.”

She also was a member of the Western Iowa Tech Advisory Board and the United Way of Siouxland executive board. She was past president of the Briar Cliff Alumni Association and in 1956 received the Briar Cliff Alumni Award.

Previously she worked as director of volunteer and social services at St. Vincent Hospital and was a social worker for Catholic Charities.

Survivors include her husband, Leonard, and five children, James, John and Peter, all of Sioux City; a daughter, Mary, of Austin, Texas, and a son, Mark, of Leavenworth, Kan., and their families.

Arrangements are under the direction of Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel.

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