Alexandra Gertrude Risse

Alexandra (Sandy) Gertrude Paradzinski Risse died peacefully at home on May 19, 2026, at the age of 88 after a brief illness following a diagnosis of colon cancer.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on July 16, 1937, Sandy was raised in Grosse Pointe, attending St. Paul’s Catholic School. She has fond memories of large family reunions with her mother’s side of the family (Hartner), enjoying speed boat races on the St Clair river with countless aunts, uncles and cousins. Her father’s close-knit family (Paradzinski) inspired her love of cooking and holidays, with Polish recipes and traditions that she continued and handed down to her three daughters.

She graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, beginning a profession rooted in the care and compassion of others, values that guided her throughout her life.

Shortly after graduation, Sandy began working at Ford Hospital in Detroit, where she supervised the psychiatric ward. There she met a young resident physician named Guenter Risse. She said that when he first walked through the door, she instantly knew, “This is the man I’m going to marry.”

Their romance began with hospital shifts, shared curiosity, and French records she hunted down for him during a trip to Montreal. It became the beginning of a remarkable 64-year marriage filled with intellectual partnership, family, travel, and enduring love.

Sandy and Guenter married in 1961, had a brief honeymoon in New York City and then boarded a Danish cargo ship headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to start their life together in his home city near his family. Navigating unfamiliar language and culture, Sandy found she was pregnant while Guenter struggled to find work opportunities in his field. Within the first year, they returned to the United States to begin building their family together.

Over the coming years, Sandy devoted herself to raising her daughters as the family moved from Ohio, to Chicago, Minneapolis, and eventually Madison, Wisconsin. She brought imagination and a sense of occasion to family life. During one snowy winter, she flooded the backyard to create an ice-skating rink so her daughters could learn to skate. Christmas Eve became an elaborate production involving drives through neighborhoods to admire holiday lights while secretly arranging friends and relatives to arrive as Santa, stomping on the roof, jingling sleigh bells, and leaving mysterious gifts. She was actively involved in the girls’ community affairs, volunteering with their Girl Scout troops and PTA groups.

The time spent in Madison (1972-1985) marked the beginning of one of Sandy’s happiest and most creative periods. She returned to the University to study creative arts. Already an accomplished knitter, she fell in love with weaving and textile arts, filling the house with looms, mountains of yarn, texture, and color. She became active in weaving guilds and fiber arts communities, eventually joining four fellow artists to form Fiber 5, a collaborative textile art group. Their woven installations and fiber works were exhibited in galleries, corporate spaces, and juried art shows throughout the region, receiving several awards and public recognition. She also became co-owner of the Weaving Workshop, a women-owned yarn and textiles co-op, her home base for her continuing passion for fiber arts. Though shoulder problems eventually made weaving difficult, Sandy never stopped creating. She returned to knitting, a lifelong hobby, and continued making blankets and other hand-crafted pieces throughout her life.

When Sandy and Guenter moved to San Francisco (1985-2001) for his new department chair position with UCSF, they found what would become their favorite home. Northern California’s beauty, coastline, wildlife, and cultural energy suited them perfectly and opened another meaningful chapter of her life.

Her love of animals led her into years of volunteer work with The Marine Mammal Center, helping rescue and care for seals, and later as a docent at Año Nuevo State Park, guiding visitors through the Half Moon Bay Visitor Center and the remarkable elephant seal colony she loved so much. She also volunteered for many years at the Marine Mammal Center’s Pier 39 shop in San Francisco. Through this work, Sandy formed deep and lasting friendships with people who shared her love of the natural world.

Sandy's enthusiasm for fiber arts also found a new home with Weaver Eaters, a women's weaving and dinner group that brought her not only artistic inspiration but also some of her closest and most enduring friendships.

Travel was one of the great shared passions of Sandy and Guenter’s life together. They believed deeply that experiencing other places, cultures, languages, and ways of living made people more compassionate and curious— a belief they passed on to their daughters. Summers often meant loading the family into a bright orange Volkswagen camping van and setting off across the United States, exploring national parks, visiting friends and relatives, and discovering new adventures.

Later in life, Sandy and Guenter continued traveling extensively, often combining his academic work abroad with opportunities to explore Europe and other parts of the world together. In retirement they discovered a love of ocean cruising, choosing new destinations each year and delighting in the friendships, conversations, and excursions that came with life at sea.

Sandy expressed love through hospitality and food. Her kitchen was filled with cookbooks, clipped recipes, magazines, and ideas gathered from years of curiosity and collecting. She cooked instinctively and creatively, often tasting a dish and then recreating it at home from memory.

Food, wine, and celebration were central pleasures in the life she built with Guenter. They loved restaurants, shared meals, and lively conversation. Holidays were never allowed to pass quietly. Sandy transformed them into events: tables carefully set, favorite dishes prepared, decorations unpacked, photographs taken, friends and family gathered close.

Sandy was a proud lifelong Democrat, keenly interested in politics and current events throughout her life. Her convictions were rooted in a deep belief in fairness, inclusion, and dignity for people who were vulnerable, marginalized, or treated unjustly.

Politics was never an abstract subject to her. She followed the news intently, argued enthusiastically, and considered staying informed a responsibility of citizenship and humanity. Family members learned not to casually mention political topics unless they were prepared for a spirited discussion.

Sandy remained engaged with life until the very end — still following world events, planning celebrations, caring for animals, surrounding herself with yarn and unfinished projects, and gathering people around food and conversation. She leaves behind not only memories, but a lasting example of curiosity, creativity, compassion, and fierce conviction.

Sandy was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 64 years, Guenter Risse.

She is survived by her daughters, Heidi Risse and Monica Risse of Sacramento, California, and Alisa Ingrid Anderson and her wife, Deirdre Runnette, of Seattle, Washington. She is also survived by her brother, Paul Paradzinski, and his wife, Shirley, of Roanoke, Virginia, along with their children Pamela Lucas, Patrick Paradzinski, and Petrina Brobst.