Sandra G. Copenhaver

Sandra Golberg Copenhaver (76) died peacefully after a long battle with emphysema on June 28, 2018, with her children at her side.

Sandra Gail (Sandi) was born on April 29, 1942 to Arnold and Margaret Golberg in Vancouver WA.  She was born during the blackout days of World War II while her father and maternal grandfather worked in the Bremerton Naval Shipyards building ships for the war. Following the war and while she was a small child they moved back to her paternal grandfather’s farm near Rudyard, MT. She grew up near family where, as an only child, she always enjoyed the company of her many cousins. The small towns that dot the Hi-Line between Havre and Chester is also the “community” where she connected with many of her “forever friends,” who remained dear to her throughout her life.

Sandi married her high school sweetheart, Gerald (Cope) Copenhaver, in 1960. They briefly moved to Spokane while Jerry attended barber school and then again returned to Rudyard where they raised their family. They adopted Marcia in 1963 and then had Mark in 1965. Sandi’s boundless energy was spent working full time and caring for her family. She enjoyed the family camping trips to Tiber Dam on summer weekends and vacations to Flathead and Swan Lake. She never missed one of her children’s activities. Always the organizer, she worked many jobs as a bookkeeper and executive assistant, including at Hasty Tire, Tire-Rama, Hi-Line Fertilizer, Liberty County Pharmacy, and the Registrar’s Office and Industrial Technology Department at Northern Montana College in Havre. Sandi enjoyed learning many crafts and her demanding eye for perfection showed in her talents with ceramics, sewing, quilting and cross stitch. She enjoyed shopping and making gifts for her family and friends.  In 2010 following Jerry’s death Sandi moved to Helena and she continued to reside there until the time of her passing, yet she yearned to return home to Rudyard.

Sandi is survived by her children, Marcia Welliever and Mark (Tammy) Copenhaver, and her five grandchildren: Tom, Kelci and Steven Welliever, Jacklyn (Ryan) Girard and Jerilyn Copenhaver. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband of almost 50 years, Jerry.

Funeral services are planned for Saturday, July 28, 2018 at New Beginnings Lutheran Church in Rudyard, MT at 1:00 pm. Ashes will be interred at the Rudyard Cemetery later in the year.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed to New Beginnings Lutheran Church or Lutheran Social Services of MT.