Sandy Kemp, our friend, an example, DGH Founding Member and Board Member, died unexpectedly the 30th of March, 2000, from a stroke, in the midst of her busy life. Sandy was born in Angola, Africa, in 1928. She lived her life as if every moment were important to her and to others around her. I was in Cuba when she died and I know that would have made her happy. She had great respect for the educational and health gains enjoyed by that people (gains she had seen personally on her visit there), and opposed the US Economic Embargo of the Cuban people.
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| Left to right: Hal Clements, Lanny Smith, Sandy Kemp and Cherry Clements in a small-group discussion at the 1998 DGH General Assembly. |
Sandy taught Spanish at Davidson College for 28 years until her death, serving as department head. During the summers, she would take students on field trips. I came to know Sandy through our common love of the Nicaraguan people and our solidarity with them against contra atrocities. Sandy did not appreciate or tolerate injustice, and she lived her life so as to minimize the injustice she found in this world. Each November, Sandy’s home became a station on the "over-ground" railroad for DGH friends on a pilgrimage to Ft. Benning to rally for the close of the School of the Americas. She also volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, was active in the Davidson United Methodist Church Mission Committee and sent more than a ton of school supplies to Nicaragua during six of Davidson’s "Clean Your Desk" campaigns.
When I moved to El Salvador in 1992, she asked to take a delegation from Davidson to visit the people of Morazán, a rich yearly tradition since 1993. In a 50th class reunion autobiography Sandy wrote, "Instead of academic credits, students with me do language study and then visit and participate in projects which help the poor to help themselves."
She was instrumental in the creation of DGH in 1995. I looked forward with great desire to her yearly holiday letters and the insights found within them. Just today I received a letter from Sandy’s family in which they wrote, "Sandy’s entire estate will go to the United Methodist Foundation to be forwarded to selected activities in Nicaragua. She walked what she talked!" I feel so much richer and wiser for having known Sandy. So much energy she had, I even feel it now! We need her energy, just as we need her inspiration. Thank you, Sandy, for being with us still.
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