Sandra K. Hovonick, 67, of Rock Island, died unexpectedly Monday, February 03, 2014 at Unity Point Health – Trinity Rock Island, with her husband of 45 years at her side.
In lieu of flowers, Sandy would very much have appreciated memorial donations in her name to her life-long charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Sandra Kay Blocker was born August 17, 1946, in Rock Island, to Arthur and Mary Blocker. She graduated from Rock Island High School, Black Hawk College, and Western Illinois University. She married Chuck Hovonick, her high school sweetheart, on her birthday, August 17, 1968, the only available date between her graduation and the start of her career as a teacher.
Immediately after graduation, Sandy was hired as an elementary teacher in the Rock Island-Milan school district, and assigned to W.L. Eddy School in Milan, where she remained until the school was closed. After the closing of W.L. Eddy, Sandy was assigned to Ridgewood elementary, where she remained until her retirement in 2008. During her time at Ridgewood, she was elected to the office of president of the RIEA, an office which she held for several terms. As RIEA president, Sandy became known as a tough but fair negotiator, who worked tirelessly with both administration and teaching staff to resolve issues, always with the quality education of district students first and foremost in any discussion.
In her 40 years as a classroom teacher, Sandy received much recognition for teaching excellence, and was especially proud to have been named as a recipient of the Mel McKay Outstanding Teacher Award in District 41. After her time at the head of the class was done, Sandy was retained by the school board as New Teacher Mentoring Coordinator for the district, a position which she held for two years. After leaving that position, she continued to keep her hand in education by volunteering one or two days a week as a mentor for students at Ridgewood, a position she held until her death.
Just before Sandy’s retirement, she and Chuck became involved in the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting, and as always, Sandy took an active role. Although not herself interested in shooting in competition, she quickly made her presence known as a scorekeeper and soon became a leader in that area, traveling around the Midwest to do scoring for local, State, and Regional competitions. Recently, she had been in the forefront of local efforts to bring electronic scoring to the sport, and had been conducting training workshops in that area. Last fall, in recognition of her many contributions to the sport, she was nominated to receive the honorary title of “Regulator” in the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), the governing body.
One of Sandy’s greatest joys was the bond she developed with her only grandson, Ian. In her past two years they spent much time together, with sleep-overs, cooking together, help with homework, camping trips, and the ever-present I-Pad game of Angry Birds.
Sandy led a varied and active life, and never took a back seat in any of the organizations in which she was involved. These included the RIEA; both the Illinois and the National Education Associations; Delta Kappa Gamma Society International; the American Business Women’s Association; Western Illinois Retired Educators; Sports Car Club of America; the former River Valley Mustang Club; Valley Sports Car Club; and SASS.
Submitted by
Count Sandor (Chuck Hovonick)
Count Sandor (Chuck Hovonick)Bookworm Sandy
aka
Sandra Hovonick
