Sandra Lee Dunn, Yachats
July 18, 1948 – Aug. 14, 2025
Sandy Dunn, who had a significant federal land management career in Alaska before moving to Yachats where she was influential in city activities for decades, died Aug. 14, 2025, after a short illness. She was 77.
Sandra Lee Dunn was born July 18, 1948, to Bill and Betty Dunn. She grew up in the Tillamook area and graduated from Oregon State University. During college, she worked as a school bus driver and then in a fishing cannery in Alaska. After graduating from OSU, she drove back to Alaska on the AlCan Highway with her best friend, Sherri Belenski.
Sandy went on to make a lifetime career with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Alaska, starting as a cartographer, then training employees in Anchorage and at the agency’s training center in Phoenix. She became BLM’s assistant manager at its Anchorage district office, then selected as assistant state director of resources. She was also the BLM Alaska representative to the National Public Lands Foundation and received many meritorious awards during her long federal career.
Sandy played on a community curling team for several years in Anchorage and enjoyed going camping with her beloved dog, Shadow. Over time, Sandy developed a hobby of photography to include two main goals of taking photographs of every wooden bridge in Oregon and many lighthouses throughout the U.S. She created and sold calendars and greeting cards with many of those photos.
In 1989 Sandy bought her parents a home in Yachats. When she visited from Alaska, she always slept in the upstairs bedroom, waking up to the view of the ocean, just a couple of blocks away. In 1997, a neighbor told her he was moving and asked if she would like to buy his house – so she did. In 2007 Sandy moved into a new house that she designed on the lot across the street from her parents, and bordering the second home.
Even when she was just visiting, Sandy became involved in neighborhood projects and made the first of dozens of friendships. After she retired, she became the unofficial leader of her neighborhood, leading a re-write of the covenants, conditions and restrictions and serving as “the holder of the keys” for homeowners who were not full-time residents.
That involvement led to her serving on the Yachats city council from 2010-2016, where she helped create the city’s mission statement and rewrite its municipal code. She often would ask the key question that would point others in the right direction on a sensitive matter, or often just quietly and seriously give them the answer and then allow them to choose their own path.
Sandy served as president of the Yachats Ladies Club from 2007-2016 and was instrumental in the planning of the club’s $100,000 renovation. She remained involved in its goals and projects for many years, working alongside Darlene (Huck) Huckins, and providing the club with historical information and financial planning.
Sandy was also a board member, mentor, supporter, volunteer and all-around cheerleader for nonprofits such as the Friends of the Yachats Library, Polly Plumb Productions, Yachats Art Guild and the Yachats Chamber of Commerce. Although she had never been employed as a bookkeeper, Sandy somehow not only became the one that kept the books for most of those groups, but also did it for free. Most recently, she was helping with financial work on the project that is culminating in the new library.
Her Christmas list was extensive – she faithfully sent (and received) dozens of Christmas cards, keeping in touch with people who came to be important to her. One friend always sent her a tray of marshmallow Peeps, her favorite candy, as soon as they were on sale in the stores. Her longtime friend, Sherri Belenski, talked or texted every day and sent her cards regularly.
In Yachats, her faithful friend, Linda Hetzler, brightened her days and relied upon her expertise for many projects, events and businesses, highlighted with lots of hours-long brainstorming sessions. And she valued her constant friend Huck Huckins, who cooked for her, cajoled her, celebrated with her and added to the quality of her life.
Some people are born into a family, and some people create their own. Sandy created her own in the village of Yachats. She is survived by her close friends, Sherri, Linda and Huck, and a hundred others or more. She probably has a computerized list somewhere.
Her ashes will be interred in the Struebal family plot in Elma, Wash.
