Ossabaw's Sandy to stay on island

Sandy West, the 103-year-old doyenne of Ossabaw Island, will remain on her beloved barrier island near Savannah for a while longer.

ExploreUPDATE: Sandy West to leave her beloved Ossawbaw Island Georgia

West, the subject of a recent Personal Journey, doesn't have the money to live independently on the 25,000-acre island that she sold to the state at a deep discount years ago. A GoFundMe account was set up to pay for home health care and to keep the electricity flowing at her circa 1925 Spanish revival mansion that has seen better days.

Only $63,225 has been raised — from nearly 600 contributors — about $22,000 since The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published Sandy's story March 6. The goal was $200,000, but the money on hand will allow Sandy to remain on Ossabaw for another month or two, longtime friend and frequent Ossabaw visitor Jill Stuckey said Monday.

“Word is really getting out there,” Stuckey said. “I’m optimistic we’ll reach our goal. We appreciate any amount of time Sandy can spend on Ossabaw.”

For now Sandy can revel, albeit at a much-reduced pace, in the island's untrammeled beaches, golden marshes and oak-lined pathways.

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Dan Chapman

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