Sandy Barnhardt

Sandra Eloise Burris Barnhardt died on April 2, 2021 surrounded by family after a twelve-year fight with Parkinson’s disease. She was 82 years old.

Sandy was born May 8, 1938 to the late Watt Hoyle Burris, Sr. and Gladys Barringer Burris. She was preceded in death by her dear brother, Watt Hoyle Burris, Jr.

Sandy grew up in Mt. Pleasant, NC and graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1956. As a lifelong Lutheran, she left home and went to Lenoir-Rhyne College where she was a member of the A Cappella Choir. She graduated from LRC in the summer of 1959 with a degree in education. She met Ralph Barnhardt during the summer of 1955 at a Post 51 Legion Baseball game. They were married on June 7, 1959 and Sandy began teaching at Coltrane Webb Elementary School that fall. Sandy taught 5th grade for 11 years. She loved her students as her own, taught them to dance and produced plays, one of which was Sound of Music. In 1970, Sandy left teaching to raise her children but returned in the late 1970’s and worked in the Cabarrus County Schools as a teacher in the Academically Gifted program until retirement in 1995.

In retirement, Sandy enjoyed painting with watercolors. She was quite the artist and her home is filled with her beautiful paintings. She shared her talent with charities through the years, as they would auction her paintings to raise money. She also enjoyed reading and was a member of the Mary Snead Boger Book Club. Pat Conroy was her favorite author and his novel, Beach Music, her favorite book.

As a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church for many years, Sandy sang in the choir and taught Sunday School. In more recent years, she was a member of St. James Lutheran Church and sang in the choir there, as well.

Sandy liked nothing more than spending time with her children, grandchildren and family, seeing former students, shopping for cute shoes and pocketbooks, eating a home-grown tomato sandwich, enjoying a glass of wine at happy hour, traveling to New York City to see musicals, especially A Chorus Line, her all-time favorite, and reading a good book. She was an excellent cook and told fantastic stories to her grandchildren. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.

Sandy is survived by her husband of 61 years, Ralph Alexander Barnhardt, Sr.; her daughter LeeAnn Barnhardt Miller and her husband Jon; son, Ralph Alexander “Alex” Barnhardt, Jr.; grandchildren, Hollis and Avery Miller; sister-in-law, Robbie Burris and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Memorials may be made to St. James Lutheran Church, P.O. Box 684, Concord, NC 28026 or to Hospice and Palliative Care of Cabarrus County, 5003 Hospice Lane, Kannapolis, NC 28081

The family will receive friends from 5-8 pm on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at Wilkinson Funeral Home, 100 Branchview Drive, NE, Concord, NC. The funeral will be held on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at 11 am at St. James Lutheran Church, 104 Union Street South, Concord, NC and burial will follow at St. John’s Lutheran Church Cemetery, 100 St. John’s Church Road, Concord NC.