In Loving Memory of Tamia Sandra Thunstedt

July 10, 1947 – October 3, 2026

Tamia Sandra Thunstedt was born on July 10, 1947, as Sandra Jean Thunstedt, in Duluth, Minnesota, to Winfield Lyle Thunstedt and Myrtle Irene Airhart. Her twin older siblings, Judy and Jerry, were 7 years older, and she was 14 when the youngest, Tom, was born.

Tamia grew up in a military family and boasted that she moved many times as a child. She learned to make friends quickly and easily, which she did all her life. Always the life of the party, she could bring a healthy laugh to any situation. Her smile and laugh were infectious, and her sense of humor was a constant companion to those who knew her.

Shaped by the Women’s Liberation era of the 1960’s, Tamia went to college to earn her Registered Nurse degree, which she achieved in July of 1969. She was proud of her career and worked as an RN until she retired. At the height of her career, she was the director of nursing for the OB/GYN department at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, California. She organized the Lamaze classes for birthing mothers and taught new parents how to manage the baby and responsibilities they had just welcomed. She would light up with delight when she got to see and hold the newborn babies as she helped the families learn about them.

On August 30, 1969, Sandra Jean Thunstedt married Leighton Howard Rockafellow. In 1975, they welcomed their daughter, Eve, into a loving family home in Tucson, Arizona. The young couple was challenged by differing career goals and parenting styles. When they divorced, Sandra changed her first name to Tamia and reverted to her family surname, Thunstedt. She kept Sandra as her middle name.

Besides newborn babies, Tamia most loved road trips and dogs. She was never without dogs and was always planning her next road trip. When Eve was little, Tamia bought a VW bus, and they took road trips to visit the coolest places in Arizona, Slide Rock, Jerome, Montezuma’s Castle, and, of course, the grandparents’ cabin in the mountains of Prescott.

Tamia spent much of her life in California and Arizona, and she also enjoyed a wonderful decade and a half in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a place she truly loved. As she aged, she spent cool lakeside summers in Idaho and would “road trip” south to be close to Eve during the snowy winter months. She kept that schedule until 2022, when she stopped driving due to the progression of her neurodegeneration.

In retirement, Tamia stayed active with church groups in Idaho and was always on the go with social engagements in between trips to the neighborhood swimming pool, where she enjoyed exercising. While she never remarried, she enjoyed the company of a devoted boyfriend, Marlan, a great love of her life and a loyal friend through her final years.

After a longstanding progression of neurodegeneration and dementia like symptoms, Tamia passed away on October 3, 2026, in Tucson, Arizona, at the age of 79, with her beloved daughter, Eve, and son-in-law, Chris, by her side. Tamia knew who Eve and Chris were until the very end. She couldn’t talk very well, but one of the things she managed to say in the days leading up to her passing was, “The beauty,” while pointing at Eve. She always had a big smile for her friends and caretakers at her care home, and an even bigger smile for Eve and Chris when they came to visit.

In her final moments, Eve was playing some of Tamia’s favorite songs, including “Hard Candy Christmas,” by Dolly Parton, and “On the Road Again,” by Kenny Rogers. Tamia was listening to Dolly Parton’s rendition of “Amazing Grace” as she exhaled her final breath. She passed comfortably and peacefully, with her closest family beside her. Though saying goodbye was heartbreaking, it was comforting to know that Tamia was carried away on a melody of grace and hope.

Tamia’s life and memory will live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. The places she called home, the memories she created, the laughs we shared, and the love she gave will remain part of her story. While her earthly journey has come to an end, the loving memories she leaves behind will endure.

May she rest in peace, forever held in love, laughter, and grace.