Sandra 'Sandy' Sue (Thompson) Taylor

Twain Harte resident Sandra "Sandy" Sue (Thompson) Taylor died Jan. 1 at Stanford Medical Center. She was 68.

Taylor was born in Kansas City, Mo., the daughter of Charles Thompson Jr. and Nadyne Thompson, on Aug. 14, 1945. She met Grant Taylor in 1959 and married in 1967 in Bloomingdale, N.J.

She attended Iowa State University.

She worked as a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1977 to 2001. During her LLNL career, she worked at the National Atmospheric Release and Advisory Center (NARAC), which maps the probable spread of hazardous materials released into the atmosphere. Her work specifically focused on the Chernobyl disaster.

Taylor was involved with the Russian Nuclear Materials and Accountancy System in Moscow. She was on a team of computer programmers responsible for creating a program that would account for all the nuclear materials in Russia.

She and her husband settled in Twain Harte 14 years ago; where they joined Twain Harte Bible Church.

She enjoyed helping and serving others both in her professional and personal life and, along with her husband and several church members, served as an informal guardian to Shawna Dixon, of Twain Harte.

Taylor was preceded in death by her father in 1993; her mother in 2009; and her brother, Charles Thompson III, in 2013. She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Grant Taylor of Twain Harte; her children, Janine Taylor of Livermore and Kristin Taylor of Jamestown; and sister Diane Lagesse. Services have been held.