Sadly, We lost our beloved Imperial Guard Sponsor/English teacher on November 8, 2020.  Her daughter, Shelley Cole sent the following obituary for our website.  She led a full and wonderful life.  We were blessed to have her in our lives.

Sandra Lee Cole 10/15/39 - 11/8/20

Sandra (Sandie) Lee Cole was born in Billings, Montana on October 15th, 1939, to Thurston
Kulaas and Evelyn Bracker Lee. She was primarily raised in Houston, TX. Her father was a pilot
for Trans-Texas Airways and her mother devoted herself to raising she and her younger sister,
Barbie. On graduation from Milby High School, she attended Sam Houston State University in
Huntsville, TX, graduating with a degree in Journalism. Sandie taught English at Houston’s
Waltrip High School and founded the school’s Imperial Guard, a girl’s drill squad, which still
exists today. She married Charles House Cole April 2,1964. As an oil company wife (Mobil Oil)
she had many adventures - coast to coast and internationally. She and Charles had three
children, the first, Sharlee, was born in Dallas. Thereafter, the family lived in London traveling
throughout the British Isles and Europe. Her favorite adventures were visiting Scandinavia and
Leningrad, then in the Soviet Union, now St. Petersburg Russia. Upon returning to Texas
Shelley was born in Midland and Chuck (Charles Jr) in Houston. They later moved to Cherry
Hill, NJ and then in 1976 to Westport, CT, where they essentially raised their family. While in
Westport, Sandra worked in the Library and the Continuing Education Department at Staples
High School. She and Charles were active in the Westport-Weston United Methodist Church.
Through their involvement, they developed several family friendships which continue as
blessings today. In 1989 they relocated to Oakton, VA. For the next thirty years, she
volunteered at many places to include the Mobil Archives, The Women’s Center in Vienna, VA,
the White House Office of Science and Technology and the 2000 Millennium Celebration
Planning Commission in the Clinton administration, the Library of Congress and the Udvar-Hazy
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, among others. Sandra was a woman of intense and broad
curiosity, very interested in the world in all of its beautiful variety and depth. In later years, she
continued to travel vicariously through the world-wide adventures she encouraged her family to
take. She had a wonderful ability to love each person she encountered. This gift enabled her to
build lifelong, multi-generational friendships through which she will continue to impact the world
that she loved. Due to COVID-19, no services beyond immediate family will be held. In lieu of
flowers, please send a donation in Sandra’s name to Heifer International
(https://www.heifer.org), Save the Children (https://savethechildren.org), the Steven F. Udvar-
Hazy Center Air & Space Museum (https://airandspace.si.edu/udvar-hazy-center) or the charity
of your choice.