Sandra Kay (Forrest) Bemis, of Rockville, passed away Sunday May 10, 2026, at Westminster Village Health Center.
She retired from Southwest Parke School Corporation after nearly 35 years, teaching at Montezuma High School from 1978 to 1986 and at Riverton Parke High School from 1986 to 2013 where she also served as vice principal for several years.
Sande was born April 26, 1941, in Clinton, Indiana to the late James Milton Forrest and Marietta Hopper Forrest.
Survivors include her brother Stephen J. Forrest of Corona ,CA; two daughters, Mary Elizabeth (Tom) Bumgardner of Zionsville and Bethany Britt (Norm) Lowery of Terre Haute; nephew, James Tad Forrest of Rockville; four grandchildren, Norman Forrest (Lizzie) Lowery, Mary Elizabeth (Gavin) John, Charles Hopper Bumgardner, Thomas Wrigley Bumgardner, and one great grandson, Charles Ray John with another on the way, Norman George Lowery.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Ray Bemis, her son Charles Bradley Bemis and her nephew Shawn Richey Forrest.
Sande was a 1959 graduate of Rockville High School, attended Indiana Business College and then earned her Bachelor of Science Degree from Indiana State University in 1979 and her Master’s in Education in 1984 from DePauw University.
She was a member of the Rockville First United Methodist Church, the Gamma Sigma Chapter of Tri Kappa, the Rockville Woman’s Club and the Parke-Vermillion Retired Teachers’ Association. She also previously served on the Rockville Parks Board and the Rockville Police Commission, the Brick Street Market and Main Street Rockville.
Services will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at Gooch Funeral Home, 112 W. Howard Street, Rockville, with Pastor Steve Blaydes, Jr. officiating. Burial will follow at Memory Garden Cemetery, Rockville. Visitation is from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00p.m Saturday.
Memorials should friends so desire, may be made to Parke County Community Foundation, PO Box 276 Rockville, Indiana 47872 in her memory.
Online condolences may be shared at www.goochfuneralhome.com.
