Alice Sandstrom leaves long legacy of activism

As a YWCA board member in the 1990s, Alice Sandstrom helped plan a Redmond transitional-housing project. She persuaded the board to buy not just the property for the building but the lot next door as well.

A month later, she saw another opportunity to think big and persuaded the board to add a basement to the plans — the chance, she reasoned, wouldn't come along again.

"Alice's basement" became a symbol of Ms. Sandstrom's vision and forward-thinking style, said Rita Ryder, who served as YWCA's executive director during Ms. Sandstrom's tenure on the organization's board.

Ms. Sandstrom, who died March 3 at her home, lived her 94 years by five rules: Be passionate about what you do; be a mentor; cherish your friends; always be positive and enthusiastic; and dream big.

She passed them on to generations of women she mentored and inspired. A pioneer in the accounting field, she became the 13th woman in the state to be a certified public accountant.

After a 33-year career as head of finances for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center, Ms. Sandstrom retired in 1982 and then spent 25 years volunteering for the YWCA — taking a leadership role in the creation of Angeline's Day Center for Homeless Women, the YWCA Family Village in Redmond and YWCA Opportunity Place in downtown Seattle. She also served as president of the YWCA board.

"She just set a gigantic vision for all of the women on our board, that we just simply could not think small," Ryder said.

Ms. Sandstrom was born Jan. 6, 1914, in Seattle. She was one of only two women in the University of Washington Business School, and in a 1997 Jefferson Award acceptance speech she recalled that she and her female classmate "learned in silence."

"The two of us may as well have been invisible, as we never once were called upon," she said in the speech. "And believe it or not, I was too shy to speak out!"

As a new graduate in the 1930s, she got a job at Star Machinery before taking a position at Children's.

"She was truly a woman ahead of her time," said Sue Lile Hunter, a Children's Hospital board member while Ms. Sandstrom was chief financial officer.

"She recognized that women were capable of doing a great deal and oftentimes weren't acknowledged for all that they were capable of doing, and she had standards that she held us all to."

Ms. Sandstrom married briefly, but then remained single most of her life and lived the past 50 years with friends Rae Azose and Kay Edwards.

Edwards recalled Ms. Sandstrom's penchant for mentoring younger women — ensuring she never outlived all her friends.

"She had a wonderful sense of humor, but a quiet sense of humor," Edwards said.

In addition to her friends, Ms. Sandstrom is survived by a nephew, Wally Rotermund, of Woodinville. She was preceded in death by her sister, Gladys Rotermund, and an infant brother, Waldemar.

A celebration of Ms. Sandstrom's life is planned for 3 p.m. Thursday at Evergreen-Washelli Funeral Home Chapel, 11111 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle.

Remembrances can be made to the YWCA, Senior Services, Children's Hospital Foundation, or another charity.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com