Obituary of Sandra Malin Mayfield

Sandra Jane Malin Mayfield was born December 18, 1941 in southeastern Oklahoma where her father, Jack, worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during World War II, helping to build Beaver’s Bend State Park. Her mother, Elizabeth Jane, was a school teacher. After the war, the family moved to Idabel, where Sandra grew up. When Sandra was about three-and-a-half years old, her brother John’s arrival completed the Malin family. Sandra departed this world on Sunday, November 18, a month shy of her 77th birthday. She leaves behind her brother, John and his wife, Patricia Carol, nephew Kevin and his wife, Amy, and their son, Robert, and niece Jill Henslee and her daughter, Bryce Henslee. She also leaves behind approximately 10,000 former students, a consequence of 40 years of teaching, the last 29 of which were at the University of Central Oklahoma, in Edmond, Oklahoma. 
Sandra’s undergraduate degree, from Oklahoma Baptist University, was in English, with a minor in French; her first master’s degree, also in English, was from the University of Oklahoma; her second master’s degree, in religious education, was from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; and her Ph.D. in English literature was from O.U.  It was during this time that Sandra was married briefly to Thomas Mayfield, of Lubbock, Texas. 
 Sandra (along with John Shipp) was co-valedictorian of the Idabel High School class of 1960. She excelled at all levels of her extensive and impressive academic career. For two years, Sandra taught high school English and French at her alma mater prior to entering graduate school at Oklahoma University, where she earned a master’s degree in English. She then was hired by another of her alma maters, O.B.U., where she taught for several years before entering seminary and earning a second master’s degree, this time in theological studies. Afterward, she returned to O.U. to pursue her doctorate in literature, teaching numerous classes of freshman English. She completed her Ph.D. in May, 1980. As she neared completion of her doctoral studies, Sandra became a certification consultant with the Oklahoma Department of Education in Oklahoma, where she labored for six years, working with school superintendents and college and university personnel, evaluating and granting – or declining to grant – teaching certificates to qualified prospective classroom teachers. She believed strongly in high academic and character standards for what she considered to be a “calling,” the instruction of our most precious resource, our children. Her view of emergency certificates was that they should rarely be granted, and the circumstances for their granting should be exceptional. This is reflective of Sandra’s fervent belief in quality in the classroom for everyone’s children.
 Dr. Mayfield’s 29 years at U.C.O. were marked by: four years as elected Chair of the Department of English, Director/Creator of the Division of Women’s Studies (now an academically recognized minor area of studies), selection as a John Milton Scholar by the National Institute for the Humanities, and subsequently, membership in the International Milton Conference, and selection by the Oxford University Round Table, where she gave a paper on the place of academic women in positions of leadership.
Sandra served for many years on the Board of Directors of Sigma Tau Delta, a national honorary society exclusive to exceptional students and scholars in the areas of English and the humanities. When retirement plans infringed on her ability to continue serving on this board, Sandra mentored and secured placement of two of her most outstanding graduate students to become board members. Both students served honorably for a number of years.
Gardening, photography, and travel were three of Sandra’s pursuits. She loved all three, and enjoyed photographing what she had grown and the places and events reflecting her travels. With People to People, she traveled to South Africa, with National Geographic, to the wine country of Italy, and with World Neighbors, she was able to visit Peru. In Barbados, she presented an academic paper on women of color and differentnesses in ways of parenting. Sandra also travelled extensively throughout the United States.
For about 15 years, Sandra taught Sunday School at Westminster, where she also was a Deacon, played in the bell choir, sang in the adult choir, and generally served wherever she was needed. As a dear friend texted upon hearing of Sandra’s passing, “Our world has lost a bright and wonderful light.’
Some of the organizations supported both monetarily and through her allegiance/participation by Dr. Mayfield included: World Neighbors, Westminster Presbyterian Church, St. Luke’s Methodist Church, the Sandra Malin Mayfield Scholarship fund at U.C.O., the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Alzheimer’s Association.
Graveside funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 24, 2018 at the Denison Cemetery in Idabel, OK with Rev. Oscar Wilkie officiating.