82-year-old Bay Area woman spends decades in a life of service

OAKLAND, Calif. - The story of Sister Sandra Price is one of service. A woman who knew from an early age that she wanted to help.

At 82, she lives in Oakland, but it is clear to see that she is restless. She is searching for people to help. It is what she has done her entire life. "I would like to get more involved," she admits. 

Courtesy: Price Family

An early commitment to service 

At 18 years old, Sister Sandra joined the Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur in Belmont. The organization has been in California since the Gold Rush with an estimated 300 sisters. Today, it is the largest province in the order of 1,000 that is dedicated to serving people in need.

At first, she decided to teach. She fell in love with Montessori school and, while in college, also majored in Spanish and says she "fell in love with the Latin culture".

Courtesy: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

A call for help

Years later at the age of 39, a call for help came from Nicaragua. The government there needed help rebuilding after the war and asked the order for volunteers.

"I was free to go. I could go immediately," said Price. She had never been anywhere else at that point, but she and three other nuns also volunteered. The commitment was three years, but she stayed for 40.

It was not easy work as they traveled around the country. Eventually, they ended up in the coastal city of Siuna where they partnered up with a group of local missionary sisters. 

Courtesy Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur

Staying turned out to be too hard for most. Two of the volunteers got hepatitis in the first year. And had to go home. By the end of the third year, the parasites became too much for another.

Then she says there was "Just me. And I was working with the native sisters there, and so I was given permission to continue working with them."

Courtesy: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

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She worked with native missionary nuns for decades even as war broke out. She says they were not safer than anybody else, because they were in the middle of a war, and often "you got up in the morning, you didn't know if you were going to get to the end of the day alive."  She says she got through it because the community "made it together."

She says she never thought about going home and still gets wistful when she talks about her time there, but says they got a lot of work done. Price says by the time she left, she had help building 64 one-room schools, and 18 separate preschools. They also built footbridges in a community where a river prevented children from getting to school. 

Courtesy: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

Dig Deeper

The work she is doing is part of the mission of the Sisters of Notre Dame De Namur in Belmont. It is part of an order that has 1,000 members on five continents. It is in 15 countries and 24 states. It was founded in France in 1804 but made its way to California during the Gold Rush. The Bay Area province is the largest in the United States with more than 300 members and will celebrate 175 years next year.

According to their website, their mission is that the "Sisters would go throughout the world proclaiming God's loving care for all people." 

The Next Chapter 

If it had been up to her, Sister Sandy Price would still be in Nicaragua. But as politics and that country changed, she was called home. Her desire to serve still pulls her, and she says would love to work with the Spanish-speaking community, translating or helping people fill out forms. Until she finds her way, she is busy reconnecting with family and building a garden. She is relearning to play the violin after a 50-year break. Even at the age of 82, there is little doubt she will find more ways to serve. It is what she has done her entire life; she goes where she is needed, no matter where that is.

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