Kristen Sanford

SANFORD, KRISTEN Kristen Elizabeth Sanford, age 32, of Waco died suddenly at her residence Saturday, November 16, 2002. Memorial services will be held at 3pm Wednesday, November 20 at Seventh and James Baptist Church with Dr. Raymond Bailey officiating. Visitation will be from 6-8pm Tuesday, November 19 at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey, 6101 Bosque Blvd. Kristen was born April 22, 1970, in Fort Rucker, Alabama. From the ages of six to 18, she lived in Papua New Guinea where her parents worked with the Summer Institute of Linguistics and Wycliffe Bible Translators. She met her husband, Keith, at Seattle Pacific University and they married in 1994. They attended graduate school at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan, where they had their first child, Dustin, and they moved to Waco in August 2000. Kristen was the program coordinator of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University for the past two years. Kristen loved her family and anticipated the arrival of their second son who survived her unexpected passing. Kristen had a deep care and compassion for all people, and she lived a vocation of service to others. In Seattle, Kristen worked for a nonprofit organization entitled Cities in Schools, for the Saint James Refugee program, and she volunteered at a downtown mission for languages and other cultures. She completed her M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages TESOL and nearly completed her Ph.D. in writing composition with an emphasis on second language acquisition. She taught English as a Second Language and other English courses at Michigan State University, at Heartland Community College in Illinois, and at Baylor University. In addition to her compassion, Kristen had a beautiful voice. She sang with her husband and led worship songs every week at most of the churches they attended. Kristen is survived by her husband, Keith: children, four year-old, Dustin and infant, Cameron; parents, John and Marie Champ of Canby, Oregon; grandparents, John Champ, Sr., of Canby and Isabel Torrey of Syracuse, New York; sisters, Karen Champ of Canby, and Lisa Champ of Fort Worth; and aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Memorials may be given to the Seventh and James Learning Center for literacy and English as a Second Language programs. Memorial guestbook at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. WILKIRSON-HATCH-BAILEY