Hoosier Sandy Allen, the "world's tallest woman," died early today in a Shelbyville nursing home. She was only 53 and had suffered from several effects of her abnormal growth:
Sandy had a dream to break free of a world that she felt she had outgrown. In her first letter to Guinness World Records in 1974 she wrote: "I would like to get to know someone that is approximately my height. It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life," Guiness World Records reported.
Doesn't that sound unbearably sad? Most of us -- well, many of us -- have felt the sting of being different from time to time. But usually we weren't one-of-a-kind different.
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When Sandy made appearances, she said that we were all one-of-a-kind different - and all the same as well. She touched a lot of lives.
Four years ago, someone stole the minivan she was using. She found an appropriate vehicle, and asked for donations, but realized at the last moment that she had come up short - and the seller had someone else wanting to buy the van. The folks at the Shelby County Bank heard about it, and deciding to be as kind to her, as she was to others, they coughed up the final $1700.
Pictures from WRTV's coverage at http://canthook.com/node/248