Sidney Allene Trader

Sidney Allene (Chambers) Trader passed away on Sunday, May 26, 2024 of Stage 4 cancer. Her desire was to go peacefully at home, without pain, and to not be alone. By God’s mercy, at her passing, Sidney was asleep in her own bed, surrounded by family and friends singing one of her favorite hymns. In spite of the onset of vascular dementia, Sidney strived to maintain her kindness, grace, compassion, appreciation of beauty, love of family and friends, and expressed deep gratitude for her long life of wonderful and varied experiences.

Sidney’s life can easily be encapsulated by six “F” words: Family, Friends, Food, Fun, Flowers and Faith. In her nearly 82 years, Sidney most certainly experienced an abundance of each.

Family: Sidney loved the desert. She always attributed this fact to beloved childhood memories of life in a desert oasis. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona on July 11, 1942 to Daniel and Flora Chambers. She had one younger brother, Loyd Chambers, whom she dearly loved. He was her number one playmate who happily “played dolls” with her, though he kept his dolls in her room so that nobody would know that he played with dolls. Sidney enjoyed family gatherings in Phoenix and cherished time with her dearest cousins Edwina, Kay, Bobby and Linda until her family relocated to Highland Park, California for business purposes when she was 3. Even still, they made many long treks back and forth to Phoenix just to visit family. To avoid the hot desert temperature, since autos did not yet come equipped with air conditioning, the family would travel through the night passing time singing songs, reading Burma Shave signs, and telling silly stories. This was a tradition Sidney continued as an adult when traveling to Phoenix as the mother of her own two children.

The family later moved to the budding community of Compton, California. Sidney attended Janie P. Abbot Elementary School, Whaley Middle School, and was a member of the first graduating class of Dominguez Senior High School in 1960. During those years Sidney participated in ballet and tap dance, learned to play the clarinet, and was deeply involved in the local chapter of Rainbow Girls. With such a busy calendar, Sidney often rode the city bus to commute from one activity to another. It was during one such ride that Sidney, then 12 years of age, met a young man by the name of Kerrby. Their friendship grew and four years later Kerrby was vacationing with Sidney and her family in Yosemite National Park where he proposed marriage. Married just 4 months later in January of 1959, Kerrby and Sidney Trader maintained a loving marriage of nearly 48 years until Kerrby’s passing in 2006. Together they raised two daughters, Carrie Marie (Trader) Davis and Kelly Maxine (Trader) Pawley, welcomed the addition of John Davis and Christopher Pawley, and watched their family blossom to include eight grandchildren: Jeremy, Matthew, Kevin, Rachael, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Kori, and Jodi; twenty-three great grandchildren: Mathew Kerrby, Remington, Obadiah, Raeghan, Benjamin, Rozalyn, Annabelle, Jonathan, Vanessa, Matthias, Dominic, Joey, Damion, Arianna, Micah, Danniella, Samantha, Christopher, Emily, Haley, Rachel, Ava, and Beniah; and one great great grandson: Phoenix.

Friends: Sidney cherished her friendships, developing them at each season of life, with most of them lasting the remainder of her life. At the time of her passing, Sidney still maintained friendships that developed through her elementary and secondary school years. One such friendship began as a cross-country pen pal initiated from a writing assignment while she was in the fourth grade. Time and distance drew no line when it came to friendships. Each was established through neighborhoods where she lived, the L. A. County Water Control where she worked as a file clerk, Ducommun Metals where she retired after 20 years as an office manager, two businesses (Kerrby’s Arco and Trader Trucking), and association with her church families: First Baptist Church Norco, Greenacers Baptist and Redeemer Baptist. From phone call chats, joint family outings, class reunions, listening to the Boston Pops or L. A. Philharmonics at the Hollywood Bowl, lending support in times of need, sadness or difficulty, Sidney was willing and eager to participate.

She was known not just for enjoying her friendships but for being a good friend, as well. She was the friend who would drive you to your doctor's appointment, take you to and from LAX, wash, dry, and fold your laundry, or jump in her car at any hour to come hold your hand in a crisis just as easily and freely as meet you for lunch. It was her pleasure to send you a card or flowers for any occasion, paint you an exquisite piece of china, make you a crocheted hand towel, drop off a meal, show you the sites of Hollywood and L.A. or sit all day at the beach listening to the music of the ocean, though I assure you she would somehow convince you to get in the water and jump waves with her. Sidney knew that friendships, like roses, take work to maintain and she was willing to put in the effort, because you mattered to her greatly.

Food: Sidney was known for being a fine cook. She delighted in preparing delicious food to share with friends and family. Perhaps this was because she also enjoyed receiving savory meals and sweet treats from others, as well. As a young bride at the age of 16, Sidney taught herself to cook through the generous support of Betty Crocker whose cookbook, with its well worn binding and heavily tabbed pages, resided in the second drawer of Sidney's kitchen. Additionally, Sidney welcomed advice and recipes from friends and family, such as the neighbor who taught her that the secret ingredient to good enchilada sauce is cocoa. Whether it was a simple salad for a friend in need, a family dinner, the annual Father’s Day Picnic, cookies, cake, or pie for a school fundraiser or church event, a dinner with friends or a holiday feast, Sidney could be counted on to provide something amazingly delicious and prepared with love. Sidney considered the ability to prepare and share food an essential skill and felt it her responsibility to ensure that her daughters learned to be comfortable and proficient in the kitchen, just like herself. She not only enjoyed the process of creating fantastic dishes, Sidney fully enjoyed partaking in them, as well. To dine with Sidney was to also hear her savor the flavors: “Mmmmm….”; “So yummy!”; Wow, this is amazing!!”; “That’s good stuff.”; and so on and so on.

Fun:

Sidney delighted in fun and maintained a love for friendly competition and adventure throughout her life. This showed up during her youth in Compton when, in addition to instruction in the classroom, Sidney took private lessons on the clarinet so that she could maintain first clarinet/ first chair in the orchestra and band. Furthermore she competed to be upfront and center as the drum major for the Paramount Youth Band and Dominguez High School Marching Band. She happily played jacks, pick up sticks, hop scotch, and jump rope with her daughters and grandchildren throughout their childhood. She enjoyed board games and card games, but was known to sneakily bend the rules in her favor during a rousing game of pictionary. Sidney’s home of 46 years had a pool and was fondly dubbed “Trader Beach”. She took great joy in hosting many parties, including family reunions, picnics, holiday parties, birthdays and 3 weddings. It wasn’t unusual for neighborhood kids to wander over for a swim, or for Sidney and Kerrby to come home to find extended family enjoying their pool. Sidney delighted in dressing up, for any reason, be it a holiday, a fancy occasion, a production, halloween, literally anything. She had a whole Mrs. Clause ensemble she would wear for events or school visits. And you could bet she would be wearing red, white and blue for the better part of July. Once they were empty nesters, Kerrby and Sidney bought a motorhome and logged countless miles throughout the United States. Rest assured, Sidney journaled the details of every adventure. She also enjoyed several cruises and family trips to Arizona and Texas. At the age of 64, Sidney went international and participated in 3 mission trips with her church. First to Turkey, followed by the Philippines and Thailand. While many of these undertakings often involved pre-plannings, Sidney was never one to shy away from a spontaneous adventure and felt these sometimes turned out to be the best.

Flowers:

Sidney loved flowers. She loved giving them, receiving them, planting them, tending to them. Her gardeners knew their job was to pull weeds and tend the lawn. The flowers were off limits to them. She would spend many hours in the hot, baking sun pruning roses, thinning hibiscus and tending to her carnations and irises. Sidney’s passion for flowers showed itself best through her artistic talents with painting china. She worked diligently to transform a plain white piece of porcelain into a masterfully crafted work of art displaying the depth and beauty of lifelike flowers. Many of her pieces won awards in various contests, but her real joy was sharing her craft with family and friends.

Faith: Though last, this final “F” word is one that Sidney considered to be of utmost importance. From her pen, this is her testimony and witness:

“ The Gospel is the most important matter in this world to me. And I want to

share it with you because I love you and want you to understand the grace

God is offering through his Son Jesus Christ.”

At the age of 37, Sidney gave her life to Christ. She spent the next 44 years growing in knowledge and love for her heavenly Father.

Sidney was a gem of a person, who appreciated all that God blessed her with in this life. Even in her diminished state, near the end of her days, Sidney would express how grateful she was to have lived a long life full of wonderful experiences and even more wonderful people. She was most honored and grateful for her loving family and many good friends. She truly embodied the adage of a life well lived.