Sandra Lea Graves Bowling went home to be with her Lord and Savior after unexpectedly passing away Monday, May 20, 2024. She was 69.

Sandy was truly loved by everyone she met and never met a stranger. If she didn’t charm you with a quick laugh or a silly prank, she could win you over with her down-home Southern cooking.

Sandy was born in Birmingham, Alabama, to Billy Bert and Iva Richards Graves on March 25, 1955.

After graduating from Woodlawn High School, Birmingham, in 1973, she moved to Florence to attend the University of North Alabama. She has called Florence home ever since. After graduating with an accounting degree, she spent her career working as an accountant at several local Ford dealerships.

She met her beloved husband of 44 years, Kenneth D. Bowling, in 1978, and they married November 13, 1980.

She loved to laugh, spend time with family, cook and travel. She was an avid Atlanta Braves fan, and she was a lifelong lover of Siamese cats.

Sandy was an active member of Faith Church in Florence. Along with her husband, she spent most of her time in communion with the Lord and her community, volunteering, serving the homeless, manning her beloved coffee stand at the church and cooking for others.

She is survived by many loving family members including her husband Ken; niece Tracy Bischoff Fox and husband Jeff; nephew Joey Bischoff and wife Jennifer, and their daughter Savannah; niece Angie Pigg and husband Ronald, and children Ryan and Jacob; niece Alicia Evans and her children Amber and Austin; nephew Brian Armistead; niece Monica Hollis and husband Jason, and their children Griffin and Carter; and niece Katie Thompson and husband Josh, and their children Averee and Sawyer; great-great nephews, Nathen, Caymen, and Hudson; several cousins; and extra special fur babies Henry and Louis Blue. She joins her parents and sister Patricia Lynn Graves Bischoff in heaven.

Services will be held Thursday at Williams Funeral Home with visitation from 11 am to 1 pm and the funeral following at 1 pm with Pastor Steve Huskey officiating.

Donations can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or The Wounded Warrior Project.

She will be mourned, dearly missed and forever cherished.

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.