Linda Lee Stanley, 81, of Brentwood, CA, passed away on May 12, 2022 at her home, surrounded by her loving family. Linda was born to Linnea Nelson Wandrey and Willam August Wandrey on March 25th, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. She is survived by husband, Stan Stanley, their two daughters, Linnea Stanley, Leslie Stanley and her wife Luciana. She is also survived by her younger brother Kurt Wandrey, his wife Loretta and their three children Kimberly, Jason and his wife Lauren, and Stacey.
She was one of five children, tragically two of which predeceased her in the past few years. Dorothy Vagnieres, the oldest, passed in 2019, and William (Bill) Wandrey passed away in 2021. Nelson Wandrey passed away in the late nineties, and we are blessed that Kurt Wandrey is still with us.
She grew up in Markham, Illinois, on the South side of Chicago. During early childhood the family spent a number of years near Traverse City, Michigan raising Turkeys. Following that, her father accepted a job back in Chicago with a wholesale meat market supplier near the Chicago Stockyards (which led her in later years to jokingly refer to her father as a “cowboy”). Following graduation from Bremen High School in Markham, she attended Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois.
In 1963, a good friend of hers from Chicago, Sandy by name, was moving to California to rejoin parents and managed to entice Linda to go west with her to “seek fame and fortune”. Much to the chagrin of Linda’s parents, she promptly packed her things and hopped a train in summer 1963 with Sandy bound for the “promised land”, San Bernardino, California to be precise. The two rented an apartment together, and Linda secured a job as Secretary in the Aerospace industry. It was during this time that Sandy’s brother introduced Linda to her future husband, Millard “Stan”Stanley, a Captain in the U.S.Air Force. It was “love at first sight!” and the two were wed by January 1964 in “cold, snowy, windy” Chicago. The wedding trip consisted of a beautiful three day train ride on the Burlington Northern Railroad in a private compartment back to California through the snow covered great western plains and rocky mountains.
The following years were full of much activity…work and fun such as
duty assignments at Wright Patterson AFB where Linda got a temporary job in the base hospital while Stan took special training courses; weekend trips to Las Vegas to see the shows and where Linda hit the “00” playing roulette; watching great formula one Grand Prix races at the Riverside Raceway; Tuesday night “Go-Go” dances at the officer’s club; weekend get-a-ways at Big Bear campgrounds. Then they got pregnant with their first daughter, Linnea Louise Stanley.
Shortly after this they decided to leave the air force and enter private industry.
They relocated to Sunnyvale, CA, where Stan secured a job with Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. Their second daughter, Leslie Louise Stanley, was born in 1969.
Linda took the time to finish up college after the kids became enrolled in school, obtaining her Bachelor’s degree at San Jose State University. During this time She also got a job at Lockheed Martin working in Facilities Management. Eventually, the family moved to Saratoga where the kids finished high school.
During this time Linda and the rest of Stan’s clan also had the opportunity to enjoy each other as a family. There were trips during the summer and winter to Aspen for skiing, hiking, camping and four-wheeling in the new Chevy Blazer (named “Rosie”) over Ajax mountain, checking out the annual Aspen music festival, and catching plays at Snowmass. Things were also booming back in California and fun to visit: Haight Ashbury was in its “Heyday” with all the “Woodstockers” waiting for Aquarius” to happen; walking with Linda’s brother Kurt in full air force uniform through the “hippie” crowds yet with respect from all to all; transiting Yosemite Tioga pass every Memorial day after the pass opened for summer on the way to soak in the Mammoth hot creeks; Linda getting initiated with champagne after her first hot air balloon ride at age 40 with a bumpy landing; watching “0-Dark Thirty” launches of long range development missiles out of Vandenberg to Kwajalein atoll in the south pacific from a Pismo Beach motel that lit up the night sky; swimming in cold Lake Alpine with camping and hikes to Duck Lake; eating those hot delicious doughnuts in the apple orchard on the way back to town after a days skiing at Bear Valley; watching the 49’ers beat Dallas with the “catch” during a ski lunch break at Dodge Ridge; binging on Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies; Linnea’s piano recitals and Leslie’s soccer games; Pizza with the Evan’s; Linda’s job at the Ewart’s camera store; Linda and Stan’s divorce followed by remarraige at Lake Tahoe…
Facing an “empty nest”after Linnea and Leslie finished college, Stan and Linda sought a new place to call home and retire.They discovered Brentwood, CA, which at the time in 1999, was still a lovely, small farming community, but was quickly building up. They found a wonderful older active community, Summerset, and oversaw the building of their new home, located on the first hole of the Summerset golf course that ran through the gated community. They became very involved with the “Summerset Singers” group who performed multiple musical shows every year. Linda personally produced a number of musical presentations including those featuring broadway plays, songs celebrating Cole Porter and George M. Cohan, World Wars I/II, and western themes. Each performance had its own specifically designed props made and created by the performers themselves. Many friends were made along the way.
Linda was a very kind and generous person with a beautiful smile, lovely voice, and great sense of humor. Linda loved her cats and all animals. We think she must have been a cat whisperer (big and little) because a number of times we saw her make large sleeping cats at the zoo wiggle their tails after she spoke softly to them. She always had something nice to say to everyone, even people she didn’t know, whether it was complimenting something they were wearing or saying how inspired she was by co-workers and friends, even those working in the places she shopped at or frequented. She strived for self-improvement, and did as much self-learning as she could beyond college. She took immaculate care of herself, both physically and mentally. She loved to be a part of everything - coming from such a large family -”Remember, I was one of five kids” - was one of her favorite expressions, said at least once or twice a day to drive home the point that we should all be thankful for the blessings God had given us. As time went on and we all got older she deeply missed her large family gatherings. That’s why she reached out so much to those around her to revive that sense of family and community.
We are tremendously blessed that she was the matriarch of our family and will forever miss her until we can see her again.
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