Memorial Service for Sandy Garcia 'Sensei' Set for Sept. 11, 2021 at Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center

The life of longtime Pacific University professor of Japanese Sandra "Sandy" Garcia will be celebrated at a public memorial service at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center on Pacific’s Forest Grove Campus.

Sandra died March 7, 2020, after a lengthy illness and stroke. Sandra, known to her students Garcia sensei and to her friends as Sandy, came to Pacific University in 1987. She briefly taught introductory Spanish, but is best known for her passion and leadership in teaching Japanese.

In addition to teaching at Pacific, Sandy also taught students kanji (Japanese writing) at Banks High School and Clark Community College. Her students remember her dedication, creativity and enthusiasm for teaching. She also served on the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers, the Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching, and the Association of Teachers of Japanese in Oregon for many years, holding leadership positions  in each organization.

The Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching granted her its Lifetime Achievement Award the day before her death. Sandy also was instrumental in the City of Forest Grove's relationship with is sister city in Nyūzen, Japan, as well as for supporting official and youth delegations between the United States and Japan.