Sandra Mae (Hoover) Wile, 92, of Bluffton, peacefully passed on Wednesday evening, March 18, 2026, in her sleep at the River Terrace Nursing and Rehab Facility in Bluffton.
Sandra, born in New Castle in 1934, was the middle of three children; an older brother, Douglas Hoover and a younger sister, Carolyn (Hoover) Moles, both of New Castle (deceased). Her parents were Orville and Mabel (Jeffries) Hoover of New Castle.
Upon her graduation from New Castle Chrysler High School in 1952, Sandra attended Ball State Teacher’s College in Muncie, Indiana.
Upon graduation from Ball State, “Sandy” married her college love, William “Bill” Wile from Bluffton. They married in her hometown of New Castle in June 1956, where they then moved to the Indianapolis area for a period of time while Bill finished working on his law degree and serving two years in the United States Navy. During that period, Sandy taught at the Indiana School for the Deaf. They later returned to Bill’s hometown where they lived out their nearly 65 years of marriage, working, serving and raising their three children in the Bluffton community.
For 30 years, Sandy served as the speech and language therapist with Adams/Wells Special Services Co-op, regularly traveling from school to school primarily in the Wells County area. While Sandy was known as the “speech teacher,” her responsibilities involved working with mainstream and special needs students of all ages, teaching them often how to deal with and even overcome an array of speech, language and hearing issues.
Sandy loved what she did and she truly was passionate about not only helping her students improve, but modeling to them that they could also “BE” more and strive for more, despite what “labels” society had unfairly placed on them.
Sandy later went on to earn a master’s degree in elementary education, attended primarily evening classes at IUPUFW while still teaching full-time, being married, raising three children and managing a household.
Besides being a member of the local Psi Iota Xi Sorority, Sandy was also an active Bluffton High School “band mom,” “choir mom” and was her husband, Bill’s regular bowling partner at the Sunday Night Starlight League at the Bluffton Bowling Center. She also was a huge IU Basketball fan, a San Antonio Spurs fan and enjoyed the roar of the engines at the Indy 500. She knew every John Wayne movie and loved just about any Western. She regularly watched the Hallmark Channel, decorating for Christmas and leaving her tree up until mid February or later. Chocolate Malts were a staple of life and Red Lobster was her favorite place to eat. And she loved Daisies.
She was a very loving daughter, daughter-in-law and sister, a faithful, loving and supportive wife, the “Best Mother in the World” and a very loving “sweet old” grandmother and great-grandmother. She was very well-known for her sense of humor in just about any situation and had a knack at interjecting humor into light sarcasm.
Sandy is survived by her three children; Lori Wile, Julie Woodward and David Wile (Jeana) of Bluffton. She has seven grandchildren, Jennifer Cook of Uniondale, Jason Cook of Ossian, Nathan Norris, Cory Norris, Jeremy Norris and Megan (Wile) Wicker (formerly of Bluffton, now residing in Arizona). She has 13 great-grandchildren, Keeghan, Kamdyn, Kasetyn, Axton, Hunter, Levi, Elizabeth, Stephen, Savannah, Brooke, Addie, Liam and Kailey.
There will be no calling hours or public services.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the Lemler family of Thoma/Rich, Lemler Funeral Home in Bluffton. Friends may share online condolences with the family at www.thomarich.com.