Sandra Thompson Gillis

Sandra Thompson Gillis, age 78, of Birmingham, Alabama, passed away on Sunday, September 07, 2025, at her residence. A Celebration of Life will be held at Rojo, 2921 Highland Avenue on Sunday, September 21 from 4-7PM.

Sandra is preceded in death by her parents, Charles Hugh Smith, Clara Elizabeth (Betty) Smith; husband, Samuel Peter Gillis

She is survived by her daughter, Amanda Thompson Holditch (Amy) Birmingham, grandson, Duncan Charles Thompson Holditch Birmingham, caregiver, Cassidi Marie Westrate Birmingham, her precious dog Marie “Maria” Antoinette and her mother’s 30 year old cockatiel, BJ.

Sandra McCrorie Smith was born at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, AL on November 30, 1946 to Charles Hugh and Clara Elizabeth (Betty) Smith. She grew up in Edgewood, on Woodland Drive in Homewood, where she would later raise her daughter.

After graduating from Shades Valley High School, she went on to marry Scott Rogers Thompson and lived and worked in Okinawa, Japan while he served in the United States Air Force. After living abroad, they briefly lived in Maryland before landing back in Homewood, where they would stay for 25 years. While their relationship was not perfect, and they eventually parted ways, they both took immense joy in raising their daughter and remained friends throughout the rest of their lives.

In the early 1990s, she met Sam Gillis and her life was forever changed. Sam and Sandra were married in 1998, and they spent the rest of their lives loving each other immensely and adoringly, right up until he passed in 2017. They were avid dancers and did so at every opportunity, including tap dancing at the Alabama Theatre with Time Step Studios, ballroom dancing at The Club and their favorite, dancing the night away at the The Supper Club in NYC.

Sandra was a writer, and a true poet at heart. She attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham to hone her writing skills and did just that. After self-publishing her first book via Anglestone Press in the late 70s, she went on to organize First Friday at Lodestar Books, a monthly gathering of poets and artists at Birmingham’s first progressive bookstore in Five Points South. Her poetry gave readers a peek into the intricacies of her life, and, if you were lucky, she would write one for you, too. Her work has been featured and published too many times to count and she was a vibrant and frequent participant of the arts, bringing her daughter to as many readings, art shows, musicals, plays, street and subway performances, Cirque du Soleil and Moulin Rouge shows as she possibly could. Her devotion to Jazzercise throughout the 1980s was rivaled only by her amazing group of friends who “dancercised” alongside her. Many of those friends were a constant throughout her life and she loved them dearly.

She loved animals and worked tirelessly to protect them, volunteering her time initially with the Greater Birmingham Humane Society’s Auxiliary Club and then later with Hand-in-Paw. It was there that she and her trained therapy dog, Josie, would participate in various programs, including Sit, Stay and Read, which encourages literacy in elementary school students and visiting patients at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.

She absolutely adored her daughter and her grandson, Duncan, who brought her immense joy and limitless pride. Her live-in caregiver, Cassidi Westrate, was her closest friend, confidante and a true angel throughout her battle with Alzheimer’s. Sandra loved her fiercely.

Sandra’s lust for life was insatiable and contagious, as was her kindness and willingness to share those experiences through words, art and movement. It was a life well-lived, well-loved and well-spent, and she will be missed beyond measure.