Sandra Harvey

Sandra Diane Harvey went to be with her Lord on February 17, 2022, after a four-year battle with lung cancer. She leaves behind her husband, Jeffrey Mortberg; mother Jean Stopinski; brother Keith Harvey; sister Lora Poppele; sister Suzanne Harvey; sons, Michael Richard (Kelsi), Matthew Richard (Tate), Benjamin Richard (Alyx); and two grandchildren Solomon and Thaddaeus Richard. Sandy (as everyone knew her) was a remarkable soul who left a deep and lasting impression upon everyone who knew her. She was born February 16, 1961 in Adams Friendship, WI to Charles and Jean Harvey. She had a typical, happy childhood for one growing up in central WI during the ‘60s. Sandy’s first significant event that would forever change her life, and mold her into the person she would eventually become happened in 1972, when her older brother Keith convinced her mother Jean, sister Sue, and her to leave home with him to join a tiny, obscure, and little-known ultra-conservative Christian cult now known as the Jim Roberts Group, named after its now-deceased founder. She’d had no choice but to accompany her mother, being only 11 at the time. She spent the entirety of her formative years living and traveling with this authoritarian group until she left in 1985 at the age of 24. At the urgings of her mother and sister, she was married within two months of leaving the cult to a former member, Mark Richard, 8 years her senior. Together, they went into Christian ministry almost immediately. She and Mark became involved in procuring, rehabbing, and delivering wheelchairs to handicapped individuals in poor communities. Soon the couple became foundational in helping Joni Earickson Tada establish Wheels for the World, and were able to extend their ministry to Guatemala and beyond. After her divorce, Sandy moved to Atlanta, where she got a job as a housekeeper at a major hotel chain, and within weeks she became head of housekeeping. It was in that position where she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018, having never smoked a day in her life. Subsequent to her diagnosis, she went through a round of chemo while in Atlanta. However, she soon left her position at the hotel to move to Wisconsin to be closer to her family. She procured an apartment in Madison and moved in with her mother for support. While living in Madison in July of 2020, Sandy renewed her acquaintance with another former member of the JRG, Jeff Mortberg. A whirlwind romance ensued between them by phone and multiple visits. Within a year of reconnecting, Sandy and Jeff were married in Rapid City, SD by her son Ben in storybook manner. The ceremony took place on the deck of Ben’s home, and the couple honeymooned in the Black Hills. The next step was for her and Jeff to combine their lives, he living in Kentucky, and she in Wisconsin. They were in the process of this transition when Sandy’s health took the sudden and precipitous decline which resulted in her passing. Being a very private and retiring person, she did not want a funeral, and her wish is being honored by holding a small private viewing for family only. If so desired, expressions of sympathy can be made in the form of a charitable contribution to the Christian organization of your choice in Sandy’s name.