By Bill Morgan, Staff Writer
Wife, mother, friend, band teacher, coach, assistant principal, curriculum director, principal, softball cheerleader — these words described Sandy Lundberg to a “T”.
She’s also described as being a very energetic, positive woman despite fighting an aggressive form of Stage 4 cancer for a couple years.
Sandy succumbed to the disease Tuesday at her home in Apache Junction, AZ. She was just 53. She leaves behind a husband, Bill and two daughters, Melissa and Maggie, aged 18 and 12.
Lundberg was a former Becker music director before moving to Arizona in 2010 and eventually taking a principal position at Casteel High School in 2015. On Labor Day weekend of 2017, she began feeling more and more tired and grew scared something was wrong with her health.
Sept. 8, Sandy went to a chiropractor due to some hip pain that was shooting down her leg. Tests were conducted. Doctors found five masses. A biopsy came back with the grim diagnosis. She had cancer. She was sent home with pain medicine.
Though the outlook was frightful, Lundberg did not view her prognosis as a worry. She viewed it as another obstacle she would overcome.
“The hard part is you don’t know how people are going to respond with the diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer,” Lundberg said in a November, 2017 interview.
“Once upon a time, that used to be very negative, and with all the advancements in medicine, it’s not like it used to be.”
Lundberg’s biggest worry was people feeling sorry for her. Her goal has always been to maintain a positive attitude throughout — which is something she achieved.
In 2017, the Castell High School, staff and students held a fundraiser breakfast and silent auction to help raise money to support Lundberg and her mounting medical bills. The fundraiser raised more than $26,000. Sandy Forster of Becker helped do a lot of the planning and organizing of the event.
"Sandy and I started teaching 30 years ago,” said Forster. “So, I go back 30 years with her and then she moved to Arizona and we have new friends and new people that she's connected with. So, it was all of us who came together and pulled this whole fundraiser off."
Lundberg taught in Becker at the high school, middle school and elementary levels and won the Regional Music Director of the ear award twice. She was known for encouraging creativity and passion and always instilled a sense of confidence in her students.
In Arizona, Lundberg built a close relationship with many students and athletes and one of her favorite squads was the high school football team, who started their existence in 2015 — the same year Lundberg started on as principal. Sandy followed the team devoutly while the team devoted their 2017 season to their principal, who had been diagnosed at the halfway mark of their season.
Sure enough, last fall, the boys not only captured their first-ever state championship, but they delivered hope, inspiration and joy in honor of their beloved principal.
The team finished undefeated and became the first sport in the school’s young history to bring home a state title.
“We had a little bit more of a driving force with Mrs. Lundberg and what she is going through right now,” Coach Spencer Stowers said last fall. “It was a privilege to win a state championship for her.”
Gunner Cruz, the team’s junior quarterback, recalls how the news of her prognosis shifted the team’s vision.
“She was a big motivator for us,” Gunner said. “I remember when Coach Stowers told us what was going on with her at practice. You could just feel the mood shift.”
The team honored Sandy by placing “SL” shields on the back of their helmets throughout their season.
Fight, drive and perseverance were words Sandy used in her day-to-day life. Her football team took that to heart to gift her in her final months of her life.
"I don't want people to feel sorry for me,” Sandy said last year. “It's just another challenge life gives you. You didn't pick it. You just address it, and fight as hard as you can."
One of nine children, Sandy was born and raised in White Bear Lake in the heart of Minnesota farmland. Her parents, hardworking and devout, struggled to make ends meet and consistently stressed the value of education and hard work. Sandy, who clearly remembers being one of the first recipients of the federal free and reduced lunch program, credits her upbringing for her work ethic, her staunch belief in doing the right thing and her core conviction that no child should be limited by the circumstances of their social status.
Sandy attended St. Benedicts in St. Joseph, graduating with a B. A. in Instrumental Music in 1987 and soon after earned a B. A. in Vocal Music Instruction. She obtained her Master’s Degree from St. Mary’s University in 2000, and completed her Administrative Certificate in 2006.
Her first teaching positions were in Littlefork/BigFalls, teaching instrumental music to K-12 students and teaching classes at the nearby International Falls Community College.
A much-loved teacher, she would teach for another 18 years, being named Regional Music Director of the Year in both 2004 and 2005.
Sandy married a fellow musician, Bill Lundberg, in 1997. Together, they shared a dream of basking in the Arizona sunshine. So, Sandy and Bill started making concrete plans for moving to the southwest before daughter Melissa started school. Daughter Maggie had not yet made her entrance into the family.
In 2010, Sandy learned of an assistant principal opening at Hamilton High School. She quickly applied and was hired. In 2012, Sandy was promoted to the position of Principal at Chandler’s premier junior high, Arizona College Preparatory – Oakland Campus. She was responsible for transitioning the school from a traditional academy approach to a college prep approach. Because it was still a relatively new concept for the district, Sandy was the heart and soul of establishing the campus culture, which required careful navigation between being elite, but not elitist.
Her vision for the school was realized, and with the hard work and dedication of the staff and students, ACP-Oakland’s student test scores were among the highest in the state by the end of Sandy’s second year.
In 2014, Sandy was recruited to take on a district-wide responsibility as the director of curriculum for the district. She responded by bringing into the position all the energy, passion and persistence that is consistent with her work ethic. However, her time was limited at this position, as she was needed for a job that she refers to as her dream job, a labor of love that was high on her bucket list.
In 2015, Sandy was selected to open the last comprehensive high school built in the Chandler School District and named for the Superintendent, Dr. Camille Casteel.
From the beginning, Sandy knew how she wanted to shape the future of Casteel High School, and she selected team members who could and would share her philosophy and vision.
And, the bedrock of her vision was the “legend of the white buffalo”. Casteel High---the students, the staff and the entity itself would be the uncommon and rare, the one in ten million, the white buffalo. They would not be ordinary. They would be rare, unique and awe inspiring. They would excel at everything, no matter how big or how small.
No one at Casteel worked harder or longer than Sandy, and her staff members were well accustomed to hearing the incredibly fast-paced “tap-taptap” of her high heels in the hallways. Her frequent sayings, such as “I need to percolate on that,” “that’s a true story” and her no nonsense tone when she talks about “one of the Casteel nonnegotiables” brought smiles to the faces of students and staff alike.
Sandy’s love of reading and research is well known among her staff members, family and friends. The bookshelf in her office is jam-packed with books about education and Sandy has read every single one, some more than once. The governing body of the Chandler Unified School District is establishing the school’s library in her name.
It seems fitting that the library is to be named in her honor, as it reflects her love for learning.
“Sandy is so passionate about life and that shows in her teaching/leadership,” says Forster. “Whether it was conducting the Becker Bands (as Ma. Perron and later as Mrs. Lundberg), or telling stories about her dog Spike (now it is Jack), her connections with kids was/is genuine. She believes in making differences for others.”
Lundberg was a woman of strong Christian faith, robust morals and stalwart integrity. Her reputation as a bright light of emerging talent, leadership and promise for the future will live on.
