Andrea Donelle Sanderman, 53, passed away peacefully in her sleep following complications from heart surgery on Wednesday July 10, 2024, at Mercy One Des Moines Medical Center.
Andrea was born October 2, 1970, to Donn and Desney Sanderman in Des Moines, Iowa. She spent her entire professional career working with children, from working in daycares in her youth to her years of work with the Des Moines Public Schools as a substitute teacher’s associate. Even before graduating from East High School she was working part-time in daycares. Her passion as an educator was focused on hands-on interaction in the classroom assisting teachers with special needs children or toddlers and babies. Andrea enjoyed watching tv game shows, word search puzzles, and cats of all stripes and colors. She will be missed.
She is survived by her sons Aaron and Michael (Sierra), her grandsons Theodore and Lincoln, elder brother Mike, elder sister Nicole, and younger brother Anthony (Jennifer), along with many nieces and nephews, friends, and children she taught over the years. She is predeceased by her father Donn and her mother Desney, along with her beloved and spoiled pet cat, Peaches.
Memorial services will be held at Merle Hay Funeral Home, 4400 Merle Hay Road, 10:00 AM on July 18th. Flowers are welcome; alternatively, memorial donations in her name may instead be made to one of the charities she was fond of supporting: World Wildlife Fund, American Heart Association, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, St. Labre Indian School, Defenders of Wildlife, or Habitat for Humanity.
