Sandra Kay ( Jessee) Self's Obituary
Sandra Kay (Jessee) Self went to the light on July 5, 2017. Sandra (Sandy) was born on Jan. 18, 1947 in St. Louis, Mo. to Lois (Caldwell) and Bryce Jessee. She grew up in Oklahoma City and every summer took camping trips with her parents and sister, Sharon, visiting 43 states in all. She attended Oklahoma State University, where she met and married Dennis Self. With toddler Megan and newborn Shannon, they lived in Okinawa, Japan for several years, after which the family lived in Colorado, Texas, Michigan and Kentucky, before returning to Oklahoma City. Sandra worked for the State of Oklahoma and Oklahoma County for 25 years while raising her two daughters as a single mom, and she also volunteered in several capacities at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. Seventeen of those years, she served in the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, Special Victims Unit, where she coordinated activities regarding child and elder abuse cases for four Prosecutors. She was involved in fundraising drives for parents and children of afflicted families and in preparing training seminars for law enforcement officers. Sandy took pride in her work but after many years in the SVU, and following the Murrah Building Bombing (1995), which affected her deeply, she knew she needed a change. By 2003, after trips to Paris and the Caribbean, Sandy was living in Dallas and working at Glast, Phillips and Murray for real estate lawyer Erika Bruce, a professional relationship that Sandy valued highly. Sandra and her daughter, Shannon established a home together during this period and had Patrick, one of Sandra’s grandsons from Oklahoma, live with them while he attended Brookhaven Community College. At the time of her retirement in 2012, Sandy was experiencing the symptoms of a rare type of pulmonary hypertension. Beginning five years ago, when she was placed on the lung transplant waiting list through UT Southwestern, up until the date of her transplant surgery last December, she made tremendous strides in developing a richly reflective, love-filled life, while improving her physical condition with exercise and weight management and connecting socially and spiritually with a support group. In her own words, “I am trying to build a life that is creative, fulfilling, and meaningful and that is not entirely defined by my pulmonary hypertension.” Sandra was an avid reader all her life (“I love reading, I mean I LOVE reading”), an enthusiastic traveler, creative adventurer, and a woman of enormous generosity and determination. She is survived by her daughter, Megan Anne May (“who delights me with her laughter and carries the family torch as an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan”) and Shannon Marie Self (“who taught me an appreciation of the finer things in life and inspires me to keep on dreaming”), grandsons Patrick (“who gave me an appreciation of all things theatrical”) and Willie (“whom I would trust with my life—he is a tower of strength”), son-in-law John May, sister Sharon Jessee, and brother-in-law Dick Sullivan. The family would like to thank the pulmonary physician’s team and all the other UT Southwestern caregivers for their amazing, never-ending support of Sandra throughout her last, most difficult journey these past months. Memorial service for Sandy will be held on Thursday, July 13, 2017, at 3:00 PM in the Wildwood Chapel at Restland Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75243.
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