Sandra Mullin passed away on March 1, 2019. She was born Sandra Carole Willmering to Theodore and Marcella Willmering in St. Louis, Missouri in 1936, and was educated at high schools run by the Sisters of Loretto. She received her undergraduate degree in Communication Disorders at St. Louis University. She married William Mullin in 1961 and they lived in Dayton and Minneapolis before moving to Amherst in 1967, where Bill became a faculty member in Physics at UMass. Sandra received her Master’s degree at UMass and was a speech and language pathologist for many years in the Granby school system. Sandra excelled in her work with special-education school children and was their strong advocate.
Sandra and Bill have three children, Paul, Christopher, and Carole Mullin and seven grandchildren. Spending time with them was one of the joys of her life. Sandra loved to travel; she and Bill spent time in many countries, including sabbaticals in England and France. One trip was to a language school in Tours trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to learn to speak French. They loved to travel in the Southwest US. A favorite annual end-of summer expedition was with a group of eight friends always to a different inn in New England.
Sandra was an active volunteer in Amherst. She led a Cub Scout den and a 4H group. She served in Town Meeting for 17 years. She was a board member of the League of Women Voters. She served on the building committee for the renovation of the Crocker Farm School, on the Amherst Cultural Council, on the Amherst Advisory Committee for Children’s Services, and on the Committee for Regionalization of Elementary Schools in Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury. For many years Sandra ran the fund-raising Beds for Books Program for the Friends of the Jones Library. She chaired the Amherst Leisure Services and Recreation Commissions during the interesting period when purchase of the Cherry Hill Golf Course was under consideration. She also volunteered for the Amherst Survival Center. Sandra was interested in local history and at the time of the Amherst 250th anniversary in 2009 published a book entitled “The Streets and Families of Amherst, Massachusetts,” which outlined the history of the families after whom many of the streets were named.
She was also an adventurous gourmet cook.
She is survived by Bill, Paul Mullin and wife Erin Cashman, Christopher and Molly Mullin, Carole Mullin and husband, David Derrer, brother Michael Willmering and seven grandchildren, Kevin, Rachel, Simon, Grace, Calley, Braedon, and Skylar. Her parents and older brother, James Willmering, predeceased her.
We are very grateful to the staff at the Atrium at Cardinal Drive, a memory-care facility in Agawam, for their expertise and loving care of Sandra during the last 15 months. We welcome donations to the Amherst Survival Center in her memory.