Sandy Pirner

Sandy Pirner was born Sandra Kay Jones, December 8, 1959 to Karol "Melanie" Parsons (Buckler) and Sam Jones III. She was raised, and continued to live, in Calvert County, Maryland where she spent a lifetime having a positive impact on her friends, family, massage clients, hospice patients, and virtually everyone she came in contact with. Even at a young age, Sandy was known as thoughtful and compassionate, yet tough. Growing up, she was a goalkeeper for the school field hockey team and was known to beat even the boys in armwrestling. Yet she carried a compassionate and infectious optimistic attitude which impacted whoever she met.This dichotomy of gentle, kind, and compassionate; yet tough, and tenaciously resilient would be a defining feature throughout her life.

Sandy started a young family, marrying David Pirner and beginning to have children when still a teenager. Her four sons, Josh, Brian, Chris, and Marc were four of the people who she loved the most in this world. Another test of her tenacity was raising four boys who were each less than two years apart in age. People would often remark to her sons, “Your poor mother…” :)

Early on, Sandy cleaned houses and small businesses to save up enough money to put herself through school to become a certified massage therapist. She was inherently empathetic towards others and working as a massage therapist enabled her to maximize this talent and spread compassion and healing to others. She would go on to have a long career massaging thousands of clients as a sole proprietor and continuing her education to become a more well-rounded practitioner. If the success of her business was measured by the positive impact it had on others (which was certainly how she viewed this) then she was hugely successful.

Sandy felt very strongly about charity and volunteer work. She volunteered for Calvert Hospice for 15 years, even winning Hospice Worker of the Year in 2004. She also volunteered at the local hospital, massaging expecting mothers and mothers who had just given birth; as well as newborns who had medical conditions which would benefit from massage. She often donated money to Hospice, The American Cancer Society, and her church: Crossroad Church.

After a divorce, Sandy met a new partner, Brian Torrance, who would become her companion for the remaining 20 years of her life. Brian brought much love, joy, friends, and positive experiences to Sandy’s life, and she loved him dearly.

Sandy’s life was profoundly impacted by cancer. She had multiple bouts with cancer during her lifetime, from the time she was 19 years old until her death at age 63. She survived cancer in her shoulder, lymph nodes, lungs, brain, breasts, and abdomen. Over the span of four decades she endured countless hospital visits, treatments, surgeries, chemotherapy, and all of the poking, prodding, examining, reexamining and follow ups to go along with it. But it was in the face of these challenges that Sandy’s true spirit shined. Despite all of these challenges with cancer, her tenacious optimism never waned, and her resilience only grew. You would never hear Sandy complain about the cancer or about any difficulty in her life. There was zero space in her heart and mind for a “woe is me” attitude. She innately understood that the true cancer was not the mutation of her cells, but the self doubt that comes with a cancer diagnosis -- and she never let the cancer get her. She truly had a superpower of not allowing doubt or negativity to enter her mind. Anyone who knew her, knows that it was Sandy’s unbelievably powerful resilience, compassion, and positive mind-set that made her not only survive but thrive in the face of cancer, over and over again.

Even in her last days, as Sandy laid in a hospital bed surrounded by coming and going friends and family, she was always the strongest person in the room- never shedding a tear and even comforting and consoling those who did become upset at the sight of seeing her in that state yet again.

Sandy Pirner died August 2, 2023 of respiratory failure with her family by her side. She was comfortable and passed in peace.

Sandy was loving, loyal, and honest. She had an innate ability to read people and to share her positive energy with others. Being in her presence made people feel comfortable, not judged, and free to be themselves. She was a dedicated friend, wonderful mother, and beautiful soul.

She is survived by family who she truly loved and adored: Mother: Melanie Parsons Siblings: Barbra Via, ST Jones, Jennifer Jones Sons: Josh Pirner, Brian Pirner, Chris Pirner, Marc Pirner Grandchildren: Noah Pirner, Ty Pirner, Roman Pirner, Grayson Pirner, Lilian Pirner Partner and Friend: Brian Torrance As well as a long list of wonderful friends.

Please see the Events Calendar icon at the top of the page for details regarding Sandy's Celebration of Life.