Sandi “Bestie” Shubert

PORTLAND – A Memorial Service to honor the life of Sandi Shubert will be held on Saturday Sept. 23 at 11 a.m. The community is invited to come to the Reiche Community Center at 168 Brackett St. to join our family in celebrating Sandi’s life.

In life, we are called to be a blessing to others, sometimes the difficulties we face in life can make that a much more challenging task. As a young girl, Sandi was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Sandi earned a business degree at Beals College and worked for Pepsi in Bangor. Eventually health complications forced Sandi to leave the workforce, and life changes resulted in her raising a family as a disabled single parent.

After Sandi’s children were grown, she found a new purpose at the Reiche School as a Foster Grandparent. For the past 20 years Sandi worked in Mrs.Wu’s classroom. She listened to children reading stories, encouraged children who were having difficulties, and every year she knitted hats for the kids to keep their heads warm on the chilly winter mornings. Sandi helped the kids to see that they could be whoever they wanted to be when she came to school with purple or green hair, and a festively decorated walker to bring a fun atmosphere to the classroom.

Sandi advocated on behalf of the elderly and disabled people that lived in her apartment building in the west end. She organized social events in the building’s community room, every month there was a birthday party, and there were many Thanksgiving dinners organized to provide a sense of community in the building.

At a ceremony in June, Sandi was honored by Avesta Management, and the Reiche School for her work to make her Portland neighborhood a better place.

Sandi was predeceased by her partner, Dana Horr of Portland.

She is survived by her brother David; her daughters Jeannie and Patti, her son, Rob; her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations will be used for a “Bestie” Buddy Bench and/or directed in other ways that benefit the students of Reiche School and honor Bestie’s legacy,

and can be directed to the

Reiche PTO, c/o

Reiche Community School,

166 Brackett St.

Portland, ME 04102