Sandra Thomson
She Had a Fierce Will To Live and a Love of Life
Sandra Thomson, of Williamsburg, Massachusetts and Casavells, Spain, died on June 3, 2024. She was 67 years old.
Sandy was born with a serious heart defect and as an infant her doctors didn’t expect her to live to 20. The condition caused significant challenges—especially in later years—but it also led to a fierce will to live, a love of life and a determination to defy any restrictions that her doctors, family members or others would put on her full engagement with the world. Instead she embraced a broad, active and unending curiosity about life on planet earth. She grew up on Beacon Hill and in Lincoln, Mass., worked in finance, as an executive assistant and ESL teacher and a shiatsu therapist, traveled extensively and lived at various times in California, Japan, Miami, Western Massachusetts and Spain.
She was an avid swimmer, reveled in flying in small planes, open-ocean sailing and even hang-gliding with her husband Richard, and delighted in both new experiences and favorite places, especially Cape Cod and the hills of Western Massachusetts. And everywhere she went she made friends with humans and other animals, especially cats and dogs. She was also a voracious reader and recommender of books, an avid writer and an impassioned commenter on the mess we humans have made of things.
Sandy suffered a stroke in early May. She was determined to recover but the therapy was exhausting and after nearly a month—and five decades after doctors predicted—her super-hard-working heart finally gave out.
Sandy is survived by her devoted husband, Richard Shepard, of Casavells, Spain; her father, Peter Thomson of Beacon Hill; brothers: Peter and James Thomson and Bill Clift, of Jamaica Plain, Williamsburg, Mass. and Santa Fe, New Mexico; sister Suzanna Price of Toronto; and countless Thomson and Pearmain cousins, nieces and nephews around the world. She was predeceased by her mother. Anne Pearmain Thomson, sister, Wendy Thomson and stepmother, Elizabeth Thomson.
A memorial gathering will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Sandy’s name to the environmental or animal welfare organization of your choice.