Irene Sands

Irene N. (Snyer) Sands, 83, of Winchester, New Hampshire, and formerly of Hopkinton, passed away Aug. 12. Born and raised in Hopkinton, she was the daughter of the late Irene “Sue” (Davis) and Peter Snyer. She was the wife of 37 years to the late Theodore “Ted” Sands.

Family was very important to Irene. She was a loving daughter and wife, and devoted her life to taking care of others. She spent many years caring for nieces and nephews, and then being a caretaker of her parents and her husband. Irene had an amazing sense of humor and loved to make people laugh. She loved to cook and loved company, animals, taking care of her “house birds” and feeding the wild birds, and carnations. She made beautiful decorative candles and loved to grow flowers. She and her husband enjoyed traveling to many places.

Irene is survived by Ted’s three children, Michelle “Shelly” Sands-Brockway and her husband, Ed; Debra Sands-Mazzola and her husband, Mark; and Jason Sands and his wife, Caryn. She also leaves behind 10 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Her lifelong devoted friend Jean (Dumas) Arseneau will miss her terribly. She is predeceased by her siblings, Peter Snyer, Cornelius “Neacy” Snyer, George Snyer, Betty Holden and Sarah Stone. Shelly, Ed, Jason, Caryn and her niece Irene DelBono were grateful for the chance to help and care for Ted and Irene, repaying their love and kindness.

A funeral service was held Aug. 17 at the Chesmore Funeral Home of Hopkinton (ChesmoreFuneralHome.com). Burial was to be held privately at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to an animal charity of one’s choice or the Monadnock Humane Society (monadnockhumanesociety.org), where Irene bought her little dog Sonja when she discovered she was going to be euthanized.