Our precious and much-loved mother, Sandi Gates Clark, of Meridian, Idaho, passed away on October 18, 2023, from Metastatic Breast Cancer.
Sandi was the youngest of three daughters, born on February 9, 1947, to Charles and Ruth Gates in Wendell, Idaho. She loved growing up in small town Idaho and had an idyllic childhood, often describing it as, “Carefree and fun,” until losing her paternal grandmother, her sister Charlene and then her beloved father within a two-year timeframe as a teenager. Such heartbreaking loss impacted her profoundly throughout her life and having to move forward with that heavy weight was difficult. Sandi graduated from Wendell High School and then attended college at the University of Idaho on the Mary Hall Niccolls Scholarship, graduating with a degree in Home Economics with an emphasis on design. She was an extremely talented couture seamstress and made all her own clothing, even winning several design and sewing competitions. After college and a fun jaunt living in Hawaii, Sandi married her high school sweetheart, Barry Howsden and they settled in Twin Falls. They had two children, Rocky and Heidi. Sandi taught High School Home Economics and some classes at the College of Southern Idaho before deciding to stay home with her kids. She suffered for many years with poor health while the doctors tried to diagnose her and find solutions. Ultimately, Sandi decided to take matters into her own hands and began researching and implementing alternative options which gave her a much better quality of life for many years. In the mid 1980’s, Sandi made a very personal decision that many in her life at that time didn’t understand or support and she became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some of the weight lifted and her joy in her faith and in sharing it with others was so very important to her. It brought her great comfort until the end. In 1990, she founded her business Premiewear, designing, patenting, and manufacturing a special line of clothing for premature babies. After she and Barry divorced, she moved to Auburn, California.
She married John Clark, and they had such fun together for 26 years until he passed just a short few months ago. They even co-wrote and published a children’s book called the Pink Sneakers Caper. Sandi missed her Idahome and her granddaughters, so they packed up and moved to Meridian, Idaho in 2007 where they resided until their respective passing.
We love you Momma and will miss you so much. And as she would often say, “If I forget to tell you, I had a fabulous time.”
Sandi is survived by her favorite son, Rocky Howsden (Veronica) of San Antonio, Texas and her favorite daughter, Heidi Hartman (Pete) of Boise, Idaho and granddaughters, Brooke Ostrem (Alex) and Sharlee Emery.