Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sandy
Shaindle
Shaindle Horowitz
Sandy Bass
Sandy Shortlidge
Mom

This blog is for fans to post their remembrances of any of the above people.

Actually the above people are only some of the many manifestations of one person.

This person I know as Sandy. She married my father when I was in my later teens. She caused him so much love and frolic and fun... he was absolutely mad about Sandy. My father, Raphael Johnson Shortlidge Jr., devoted himself to Sandy after knowing her for one or two evenings! He fathered two beautiful daughters with Sandy, and helped raise them in a very special household in deed. When he met Sandy, she was living in Burlington Vermont, USA, and when he left her (dieing in the mid 1980s) they had been living rather idyllic life for many years just outside the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, Israel.

Anyway, I will sound in again, but my intention now is to open up this blog, and ask others to chime in on their rememberances of Sandy... or whomever you knew her as.

Sandy passed out of this life today, after many months of fighting a sudden bout of fierce disease in later life. She lived a long and very productive and loving life. She had one of the most intense and infectious smiles of anyone I have ever met, and good will to match.

I am very interested to hear what others remember about Sandy.

Josh Shortlidge
http://swithin.com
781-724-1326

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ever Understanding and Accepting yet Willing to Question and Challenge. (if only I had been OPEN enough to LISTEN.) Open and Free Spirited, Giving and Gracious are other WORDS that come to Mind. I was practically Living at their house when she swept Johnny's Heart into HERS, yet too ENTRENched in teenage MADNESS to really APPRECIATE it at the time. In Later Years I could FINALLY look back and Understand what she BROUGHT to this World through her FUN Loving heart - a Spirit that seemed to GLIDE on updrafts of warmth and Human KINDNESS. She may be Flying Higher than we can see now, but the world is a BETTER Place for having had her as a Part of it for So Long. May eternal PEACE be with her; and JOYOUS memories be held forever by Those who knew and Loved HER.

Anonymous said...

Always a smile and a hearty laugh, making you comfortable at her expense, floating in a big inner tube on the lake or scuffling over boulders on Mt Washington. What a loss....

Anonymous said...

Sandy left a lasting impression on most everyone who met her. I was blessed to be related to her, as her cousin, I got to know her best once she and Johnny moved to Jerusalem where I was also living. Sandy's zest for life, her amazing sense of humor, her laugh, her insightfull intellect are just some of the qualities that made her so special. Her home was always open to people, and she constantly fed guests and made them feel at home, sitting for hours in her kitchen, just hanging out.
Sandy helped me in so many ways, I can't imagine what my life would have been like without her in it!
Some of my favorite times with Sandy and the girls were going to the beach together, even though she didn't swim, Sandy loved to hang out at the beach and we'd go to get doses of negative ions. Shabbat dinners were so special!
For those of you who remember, Sandy and Johnny had some favorite phrases that I'd like to share - one of them was illegitimi non carborundum - "don't let the bastards grind you down", and "We do, what we got to do, and then we go!" (the latter based on something that they overheard some suspicious types with thick New York accents say, and they found profound meaning behind these simple words). Well, Sandy, you did what you had to do, and though we wish you were still here with us doing it, you did an amazing job, and we miss you greatly!

Love to you and to all,
Rikki

Anonymous said...

Whenever Shaindle came into our house it was filled with light and laughter. Shaindle or Beanie as we called her when she was little was always bubbling over with joy and she was infectious. No one could be around her and not be happy and smiling. She had such a zest for life.Her two beautiful daughters have inherited her spirit and we wish them a lifetime of remem-bering their wonderful Mom.

Temi Horowitz,
January 20,2008

dd said...

Sandy and Johnny were a magnificent team. They touched my life with their enthusiasm and wisdom and changed it. I can so vividly recall long conversations and their laughter and words of experience. We met on a bus in Jerusalem when they overheard me talking to my aunt and turned around and said “hey you sound like fun..can we get to now you?” It was their way- open to life, inviting, warm. Later, invited to their home, they tried to get me to eat my first nori roll…I hid it in a plant when they weren’t looking!

Once Johnny passed, Sandy’s life and mine became even more intertwined as we supported and helped each other through our own individual difficulties. Soon Rikki, Sandy, Debi, and I became an inseparable foursome of love and friendship. It was wonderful to watch as she grew and found the strength to continue her and Johnny’s dream alone, facing the world, raising the girls As Johnny always said we do what we gotta do and she certainly did. Sandy is fun and loving, free spirited and always looking for the joy in a situation. She truly reveled in her friends and it was a great pleasure to see her wonderful smile and twinkling eyes as you walked through the blue door. I think of her and Johnny’s influence and love often, in every healthy thing I do, every time I seize the day, and every time I hear Jim Croce sing.

I hope Hava and Grace are blessed with the love, friendship, joy, and openness that were so present in their parents. May Hashem protect them from further pain and loss, and may they always know they have friends and family who will always be here for them.
dd

Anonymous said...

Many of the words and ideas shared have been graceful and poetic. Mine are common and simplistic, but heartfelt and pure.

My strongest, most tangible memories of Beanie are from my childhood and teenage years. Aside from an occasional simcha, which required a brief trip to the U.S., or an infrequent visit on my part to Israel, my adult life, sadly, held few traces of Beanie.

As I child, I was crazy about Sandy, which truly speaks to her kindness and amazing spirit. Often children, as well as animals, detect one's true essence. Sandy was authentic, benevolent and fun. Spending time with her was always full of excitement and delight. Her lifestyle provided fodder for wonderment and her disposition enticed. She was warm and loving, while upbeat and energized. A framed poster of The Fresh Ground Coffee House hangs in my home and serves as a daily reminder of the days spent together in Burlington, the restaurant she owned and the unique, full life she led.

My fondest memories are of spending time with Beanie and Maxitaxiteddybearpuppydogbunnyrabbit. For those who were not blessed to be part of her life at that time, Max for short, was her beloved Samoyed. To this day, I have never encountered a sweeter, smarter, more mysteriously human canine. He was warm, loving, protecteve and handsome. Together they were a perfect pair that welcomed you into their hearts and home.

Times with Sandy were filled with light and laughter. This is what touched me about her and what will remain with me all of my days. Sandy made those with whom she connected feel special. Knowing her truly made us so.

Rest in peace, dear cousin.

As Only You Knew Me,
K-K-K-Karyn

Anonymous said...

My cousin Sandy (Beanie) should be an example to all of us. She was very bright and successful in all her many careers. She marched to her own wonderful drum beat. She and Johnny were humanists and a perfect match. They were the least materialistic people G'd could have created.
Her restaurant in Burlington featured a "Beggars' Banquet." (She gave everything free if you asked). She was in the forefront for women's lib, abortion, poverty, and civil rights.
Karyn and I visited her many times in Burlington, Keene and Israel and took her to Montreal several times. She had many careers-teaching, writing, editor, restauranteur, caterer and top notch lawyer and interpreter.
She raised two wonderful daughters on her own. She had courage to move to Israel with Johnny to create a new life. She bore her many physical ailments with courage as well. Her many friends are a tribute to her and her love of people. Everyone who knew her respected her and loved her. She was like a sister I never had and certainly a heroine to me and all of us.

Josh Shortlidge said...

I met my wife Terri on Bahia Honda beach in the Florida Keys. My brother Charlie and I were on vacation, visiting our mother, who lived in Marathon Key. We had borrowed her convertible to go to the beach. When we parked, another car with four girls in it pulled up alongside. The car contained Terri, two of her sisters, JoAnn and Carol, and a friend named Edye Merzer.

Very soon Charlie and I were enjoying their chicken salad sandwiches, and they were partaking in our snorkeling equipment.

Very early in the introductions Edye Merzer recognized the "Shortlidge" family name saying "hey I met your father John and his wife Sandy at a macrobiotic restaurant in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In a prior comment on this blog "dd" mentioned "We met on a bus in Jerusalem when they overheard me talking to my aunt and turned around and said 'hey you sound like fun..can we get to now you?'"

That is EXACTLY why Edye Merzer knew Sandy and Johnny. Those two were consummate extroverts. They just fed on the love that existed in meeting and greeting humans. They found their house in Jerusalem by walking along the sidewalk, and simply asking a passer-by if they knew "where is a house we can buy?" As a teenager, I remember being "embarrassed" by their knowing more about my friends and acquaintances that I did! They just loved people, no matter what age.

Last summer, I went to the funeral for Kia Islen, in Nelson, New Hampshire. I got there early. One of the people walking in heard my name, and walked up to me saying he new Johnny and Sandy. He had met them at Life Institute, which is where the two of them met.

I wonder how many people in this world met Sandy and Johnny? I fully expect to meet a lot more people who knew and loved them.

What a special gift of "meeting people" they both had.

I am so happy my dad met Sandy.

He was soooh happy loving her.

He raved about her constantly!

He was nuts about Sandy.

Love.

Josh Shortlidge

Anonymous said...

I know and regret that I never got to meet Sandy or Johnny personally, but I feel as though I have known them my whole life. I have heard stories about how they brightened the lives of absolutely everyone around them and were cherished by all. I see now that there is so much I never knew, but in my heart there is so much that I did. I know that Johnny himself passed before I was born, but the stories of him will always be with me, and of course so will the ones of Sandy. I will always call this wonderful lady my grandmother, and I only wish that I knew her better. Her smile could light up a room and her laugh would brighten the world. She was loved by so many that I personally don't know what to say. I suppose what I know is so wonderful, that it is definitely worth putting down for those of you to see:

Sandy was an artist. Artists express their emotions onto their works, I know from being one. Sandy gave my mother a painting when my brother was born, and the bright but soft colors show how happy she always was, how proud, how talented. I have a box in my room that she painted and I can see the careful brushstrokes that each one was made of, the care, the intricacy. Sandy's beautfiul art is something that I will always cherish.

It is so easy to hear not only how much everyone loved Sandy, but how much Sandy loved everyone. I remember as a little kid I always dreamed of visiting her in Jeruselum and learning stories from her fantastic life and asking her to teach me to paint. It may seem childish, but when I was little, those were indeed the dreams I had. I dreamed of meeting Hava and Grace, my aunts, and I still do. I've learned of the two beautiful amazing daughters that Sandy and Johnny raised, and I only regret that I can't meet you all as a family.

I've heard many other stories about our loved Sandy, but I'd rather not take up the whole page. In short, Sandy was absolutely amazing and happy, and even though I never spoke with her, I know her through my loved ones. Sandy WAS one of my loved ones, and always will be. When I learned that she had fallen sick, I didn't say very much to my mother until that evening, first I myself was too suprised and upset to say anything. First I told my friend, and she had heard so much about Sandy through me that she spent hours telling me that everything would be fine. In my heart and soul I guess I knew it would, because Sandy's life will last forever through all of us, won't it? Then I heard so quickly, too quickly, that Sandy had died. I know that I never spoke to her to really hear her laugh, but I cried just as hard as the people who did know her. Now I smile when someone says her name, because as I said before, everyone who has heard of Sandy feels like they know her, and through us, she lives forever.

-JBS

Anonymous said...

Sandy was like a third parent to me. She, in many ways, raised me to be the person that I am.
She took me into her home when my family was going through hard times, and there I got the chance to be part of the Shortlidge household, to sing the silly songs, to laugh over a hot meal, to talk from the heart and be truly happy.
I've known Sandy since I was 12 through her young daughter Grace, who is my best friend and long lost sister, and I think god everyday for it.
I will never forget her voice while singing a harry belafonte song, her face when she scrunched up her nose, her cooking (anything. it was all amazing) and the comfort she gave everyone around her.
So I take this place to thank her. My life is better having knowing her. and as far as I'm concerned, a part of her will stay with me forever.
N.

Anonymous said...

John and Sandy, I knew them 1st through their law practice. The last memory I have was her painting of the sign in front of their house, closing the office. Between these two memories I see her smile and hear her laughter. Thank you for that Sandy.