Sandra Jo Fields
October 8, 1937 - August 27, 2021

Sandra Jo Hornsby Fields, 83, quietly passed away on Friday, August 27th, 2021 at the Buda Oaks Assisted Living and Memory Care in Buda, TX following a prolonged illness. She has gone on to rejoin her beloved husband Thomas Edward Fields, Lt. Col. (USAF ret.) after being without him for over 11 years.

Sandra "Sandy" is survived by her three children: Cheryl Anne Hornsby-Fields of Jacksonville, FL; Thomas Robert Fields and his wife Lisa Terranella-Fields of Austin, TX; and Catherine Denise Fields-Elgie and her husband Daniel Sarvis Elgie of Silverhill, AL.; her sister Barbara Whitman of Humble, TX, sister-in-law's Rose and husband Larry Nau of Austin, TX, Menota and husband Carlton Edwards of Eastland, TX and Debbie Dourte of Austin, TX.

Also known as Mimaw, she cherished her seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Frequently she travelled between Texas, Alabama and Florida to visit all of them. Her grandchildren include: Joanna Marie and her husband Jeffery Michalski of Jacksonville, FL; Mark Edward and his wife Paula Elgie of Northlake, TX; Matthew Donald and his wife Jenna Elgie of Daphne, AL; Michael Thomas and his wife Jessica Elgie of Robertsdale, AL; Zachary Robert and his wife Jessica Fields of New Braunfels, TX; Analise Marie Fields of Austin, TX; Catherine Elizabeth and her husband Ocean Odom of Loxley, AL. Mimaw's great grandchildren include: Alexandra, Lana, Matrim, Loralie, Daniel, Eli, and our newest additions Savannah and Ian.

In addition to her adoring husband Thomas, "Tom", who passed away on May 11, 2010, Sandy was predeceased by her father Hugh Morrison Hornsby, Jr. on February 4, 1980; her mother Elizabeth Virginia Medbery-Hornsby on January 22, 2001; her older brother, Hugh Morrison Hornsby, III on September 22, 2019; her older sister Turla Beth Hornsby-Jones on October 29, 1994; and her younger sister Helen Marie Hornsby-Bland on June 4, 2016.

Mom went by so many names, including: Sandra, Sandy, Mimaw, aunt Sandy, niece, cousin, friend. She was loved and admired by so many people. And she in turn loved every one of them.
A special thanks to all of those that cared for our mother over this past year. Especially the bible study and prayer group at Buda Oaks and her Veteran friends Tony Ray and Kenneth "Ken" Baisden (pastor)

Mom will be laid to rest in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with our Dad. Her Pallbearers will be here grandsons Mark, Matthew and Michael Elgie, and Zachary Fields along with Curt Meyer and Brett Hunsucker. Honorary Pallbearers are Jeff Michalski, Ocean Odom and Dean Kuhlmann

For those friends and family traveling to San Antonio, a Celebration of mom's life will be held at La Fonda Alamo Heights Mexican restaurant, 8633 Crownhill Blvd San Antonio, TX 78209 from 3:30 to 6:00 PM

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Loving Stories
Sandy was born in San Antonio, TX, lived in Seguin and then moved to Austin in 1950 where she graduated from McCallum high school, reunited with her best friend and maid of honor Jodi Stafford Fergus and met and married her husband Tom who was a 2nd Lt. in the Air Force.

When she was born our grandmother, Nana, told us about one very special visitor, a cousin named Rogers Hornsby who, at that time, was a National Baseball League player with the Cleveland Browns and would soon be elected to the National Baseball League Hall of Fame. Evidently, he was a major heartthrob because, later-on, Nana told us how she could hear the nurses excitedly whispering in the hall that, "Rogers Hornsby is here!". Sure enough, he had come to see his new little cousin.

Austin was the family home as her father Hugh Morrison Hornsby Jr. was a 5th generation descendant of Rueben Hornsby who built the first house in Travis County and settled with Stephen F Austin at Hornsby's Bend along the Colorado River. Many family occasions were held at "the bend" and in particular at Aunt Kate's house where there were always aunts, uncles and cousins to visit. Hornsby family reunions were held over the years and many of the direct descendants are buried in the Hornsby family cemetery.

Sandy was the middle child and her siblings were convinced that she was spoiled because, is she was punished by her father, he told her that she needed to be as loud and convincing as she could while he "waled on" the mattress ... instead of her bottom. His reasoning, her hiney (or behind) was too tiny to hit. However, this act didn't fool anyone and, eventually, it led to a new nickname for Sandy ... "tee-niney", because her hiney was too tiny for him to hit. And the other kids were even more convinced that mom was indeed spoiled.

It was during 1954-55 that events were happening that would change Mama's life and even become a family legend. With the Christmas season beginning, Sandy got a part-time job wrapping Christmas packages at Scarborough where her mother worked. One evening after work, Nana talked about a "nice young man who came into the store with his two little sisters and bought brand new coats for both of them". She was so impressed with him that she told Mom that this was the type of young man she should be dating.

As it turns out, Sandra had a date with someone new that evening. Her dad hit the roof! He had laid down the rules and one of his major rules was absolutely no dating guys he knew nothing about. Around that time, the doorbell rang. Mama's dad went to open the door, preparing to turn this person away "with no ifs, ands or buts". Well, Nana also went to the door. Upon seeing who was standing there, she was flabbergasted! It was the very same nice young man that she had seen in her store buying coats for his two little sisters. Well, don't you know that she "lit into" her husband, telling him all about the wonderful things that had happened that day at the store. She also told him that she wasn't about to let him forbid their daughter from going out with "this perfect young man". Therefore, guess who began dating? Evidently, they quickly began to fall in love because they had only been dating about three months before "that perfect young man", Thomas, asked Mom to marry him.

On May 6, 1955 Tom and Sandy were married in Austin and started their journey together as an Officer and an Officer's wife in the Air Force. They were first stationed in Bryan, TX where dad was a pilot instructor. While in Bryan they had their first two children Cheryl and Thomas. They moved to Craig AFB in Selma, Al for a short year of additional pilot training before returning to Bryan where dad attended Texas A&M. Cathy was born at the same hospital in Bryan as her older siblings.

Their next stop was an overseas assignment to Ankara, Turkey which was a true adventure with their young children. After Turkey, they were assigned to Randolph Brooks AFB in Universal City, TX and then to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH were dad received his Master's degree. The next assignment sent the family back to Universal City, TX when dad was stationed at Saigon, Vietnam. With dad's safe return from the war, the family moved to Ft Walton Beach, Fl where they purchased their first family home, all children graduated from Choctawhatchee high school and eventually where they retired.

Sandra learned that as an officer's wife, she would have to move her family every three years, help the children get into new schools and make new friends and support dad's career with each new assignment. She and Tom enjoyed their many friendships while in the Air Force. They enjoyed playing bridge with other couples and Sandy was an active bowler in the Officer's wives bowling leagues

One of the things Sandy most enjoyed in life was her and Tom's time traveling in their RV. They got their first one when their youngest, Cathy, was a teenager. Promptly named it "Tom and Sandy's Playpen" and never looked back. Throughout the years, if Sandy and Tom were coming for a visit you can bet they were arriving in their RV. Several wonderful memories were made with their kids and grandkids in the various RVs they had over the years. After Tom retired, they joined a group for Discovery RV owners called Discovery Texans. With this group they found lasting friendships and traveled all over the United States. In fact, they had traveled to almost all the states in the contiguous United States! While Tom served as President of the group for several years, Sandy enjoyed the travel and camaraderie with their RV friends. She especially enjoyed the large rallies they would have. There would be games, excursions, dinners, and some entertainment. The joy on Sandy's face when she would sing along about "Firestone alligators" and other road songs was truly something to see. You could tell that she was in her element and that there was nothing else she would rather be doing.

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