Darlene Grace Sandau, 87

Darlene Grace Sandau, 87

Darlene Grace (Pfeifle) Sandau was born on Feb. 18, 1933, to Martha Harr Pfeifle and Fred Pfeifle in Artas, S.D., and passed away on Feb. 20, 2020.

She grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho, where she attended school and worked as the head usher at the Orpheum Theater in high school. She married her high school sweetheart and best friend, Bob Sandau, on Feb. 28, 1951, in Twin Falls and started their married life in Caldwell, Idaho.

A year later, they moved north to Kellogg, where they owned and operated a bakery. After a couple of years, they decided to move to Coeur d’Alene, where Bob went to work at Albertson’s and Darlene was a busy mother of four children.

She was featured in an article in The Coeur d’Alene Press on May 2, 1959, as the May Queen for May Day.

In 1960, they made the move to Spokane Valley to start their own bakery with Henry and Anne Schlee, which they operated until 1969. During these years, they became interested in motorcycle riding and decided it would be fun to own their own motorcycle shop. So in 1968, with friends and partners Darrell and Kathy Sims, they opened Coeur d’Alene Honda and Huetter Speedway. Darlene worked at the dealership for a few years, but found her interest was in her home, children and grandchildren.

She was an excellent cook, a wonderful and gracious hostess and well-known for her “soup night” parties. She was a very good seamstress and enjoyed sewing clothes and doll clothes for her children. She had a flair for crafting and decorating her home.

Her grandchildren enjoyed their time with her and said she was such a fun grandma because she would roller skate and ride bikes with them. She was a very good bowler and won several trophies.

Bob retired in 1992 and they began their new life as snowbirds, traveling in their motorhome from Alaska to Mexico and enjoying motorcycle and ATV riding, sightseeing and shopping at the bazaars.

Darlene enjoyed yard work and liked to race Bob on their riding lawnmowers to see who could finish their half of the lawn first. She loved camping at their Coeur d’Alene River property, where hiking, picking huckleberries and floating the river were fun pastimes.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Floyd. She is survived by her husband, Bob, her daughter Terry Hamby and son-in-law Jim, son Mike and daughter-in-law Emma, daughter Kathy Canning and son-in-law Michael, daughter Bobbie Peterson and son-in-law Rusty, seven grandchildren (Beau, Michelle, Melissa, Rusty, Jimmy, Von and Brenn), 17 great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and sisters-in-law Joan Sandau and Betty Pfeifle.

Darlene requested no services be held. Donations may be made to the Kootenai Humane Society in her memory for her love of animals.