Sandra Chapple Lotton was born July 19, 1938 in Ogden, Utah, the eldest daughter of Royal Harold Chapple and Sarah Virginia (Simpson) Chapple.  Her family moved to Portland, Oregon when Sandy was 6 years old.

Possessing keen intelligence, she was an excellent student with broad reaching interests. Her parents were of a generation that did not believe in higher education for women and therefore offered no support to that end.  Sandy, however, persevered and through scholarships and hard work managed to attend the University of Portland and became the first woman valedictorian of that school.

Her original career goal was elementary education, as was common for women of that era, but after her stint student teaching, she reconsidered.  She accepted a job with the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1960s and was stationed in Hamburg, Germany for four years.  It was there she met Donald Ray Lotton of Mexico, Missouri who was in the Army assigned to military intelligence.  They married December 5,1965 in Germany and returned to the United States where Don took up a position with the accounting firm Peat Marwick Mitchell in St. Louis.

Don's various jobs as CPA and CFO took them to Peoria, Illinois and Thompson, Missouri. Sandy often worked part time jobs, mostly relating to children, but the bulk of her time was devoted to her husband and their daughter, Christine Chapple Lotton who joined them on December 5, 1972.

Sandy was a voracious reader and her many bookshelves revealed strong interests in history, politics and foreign policy. One of her lifetime goals was to read a biography of every American President, which she achieved.  The great granddaughter of Mormon émigrés from Great Britain she became interested in genealogy at an early age.  It proved a lifelong passion that called upon her research skills, intellect and natural curiosity.  She became a talented family historian, tracing her family's history back to the 1600s and volunteered to help others in their search through local libraries and genealogical societies.  Baseball was also an interest in her youth and she was an early smalltime investor in the Portland Beavers.

She died at The Bluffs in Columbia, Missouri on January 21, 2025 after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

Survivors include, grandchildren Amanda Kutschkau (Tim), Sarah Clinton (Joseph), TJ Bitner, and Morgan Bitner and great-grandchildren Holley, Hayden and Olivia, and son-in-law Billy Travis Gray.  Sister Susan Chapple Langemack (William) of Bainbridge Island, Washington and brother Dennis Chapple (Deirdre) of Portland, Oregon will also miss her greatly.  She was preceded in death by her parents and daughter, Christine.

Private interment was in East Lawn Memorial Park in Mexico.

The family requests memorial donations be made to Alzheimer's Association or any animal welfare organization. Memorials may be sent in care of Arnold Funeral Home, 425 S. Jefferson, Mexico, MO 65265.