Longtime Alaskan and Homer resident Judy Sanford, 84, passed away September 17, 2025 at South Peninsula Hospital in Homer.

At her request, her cremated remains will be scattered off the Homer Spit in 2026.

Judy was born February 16, 1941 in Ipswich, S. Dakota. She moved to Alaska in 1972 and resided in Anchorage, eventually moving to Homer.

She was a member of Glacierview Baptist Church in Homer.

Judy enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles, playing bingo and especially pinochle. She also enjoyed playing Scrabble.

Her family wrote, “She was well liked by everyone that met her and she would help anyone in need. She loved to bake and would always take some to her friends and neighbors, as well as eat some herself. People would always say she was a bright light and always had a smile on her face.”

She was preceded in death by her husbands, Don Sanford and Arnold Nordlinder.

Those left to cherish her memory include her daughters, Arnel Cervantes of Franklin, Wis. and Jackie Nordlinder of Homer, AK; sisters, Jane Stirewalt of Prineville, Ore. and Ava Holub of Vernona, N. Dakota; and grandchildren, Anna and Nicholas Cervantes, both of Franklin,Wis.

Arrangements were by Peninsula Memorial Chapel, Kenai, Alaska.