Sandra Kay Houston Walden

On July 1, 1944, Sandra Kay Houston Walden was born in Booneville, Mississippi. She was the first granddaughter on both her mother’s and her father’s sides. She graduated from Booneville High School in 1962 before attending the University of Mississippi, where she received a B. S. degree in home economics education in 1966. At Ole Miss, she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She married Neil Walden in 1966. In 1978, she received an M.A. degree from Ole Miss in home economics education. After Neil and Sandra moved to Colorado in 1979 with their two children, she continued her educational pursuits, while working and raising children, with post graduate studies at Colorado State University.

Teaching was central to her life. Sandra began her teaching career in 1966 in Tennessee. She continued teaching in Mississippi, Colorado, and Alabama, retiring in 2008 from the University of Montevallo. She taught home economics and family and consumer sciences, and also developed and implemented a cooperative education program for at-risk high school students and an eighth-grade career discovery curriculum. In 1985, while teaching in Colorado, she was honored as the Platte Canyon School District Educator of the Year.

During retirement, Sandra was fully devoted to her grandchildren - traveling and taking them to experience new adventures. She was always an active and loving presence in their lives.

Sandra was a faithful member of St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in Atlanta and, previously, was a member of the Church of the Transfiguration in Evergreen, Colorado. At St. Martin’s, she enjoyed fellowship and outreach with the St. Elizabeth’s Guild.

Sandra was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Lunsford and Minnie Houston; her maternal grandparents, Claude Rogers and Virginia Brinkley Rogers West; her parents, Fred Lee Houston and Kathryn Virginia Rogers Houston. She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Neil Walden of Atlanta, Georgia; son Joseph Walden and his wife Cindy of Yarmouth, Maine; daughter Leslie Uddin and her husband Sabir of Atlanta; grandchildren Charlotte Walden, Alex Walden, Selma Uddin, and Lucas Uddin; brother, George Brinkley Houston and his wife Jeanne of Atlanta; and sister-in-law Pam Walden Mitchell and her husband Jim of Jackson, Mississippi.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 2:00 pm at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, 3110 Ashford Dunwoody Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30319.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made in Sandra’s memory to one of the following organizations: National Autism Association, One Park Ave., Suite 1, Portsmouth, RI 02871; St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church, St. Elizabeth’s Chapter, 3110 Ashford Dunwoody Rd., Atlanta, GA 30319; SBTF (Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation) of Atlanta, POB 422471, Atlanta, GA 30342; Suthers Center for Christian Outreach, 3110 Ashford Dunwoody Rd., Atlanta, GA 30319; Halfway Home Animal Shelter, POB 102, 200 Townhouse Drive, Booneville, MS 38829; and Corinth Alcorn Animal Shelter, 3825 Proper St., Corinth, MS 38834.