Patricia Pulling Sands was born January 18,1932 to Lucy Leffingwell Pulling and Edward Pulling of Millbrook, New York. She graduated from The Chapin School and Vassar College. Mrs. Sands worked at the Museum of the City of New York in the print and theatre departments, curating and lecturing. She later joined the New York Council of Churches at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Rapid City, South Dakota, where she was awarded the Niobrara Cross by the Bishop of South Dakota. After marriage to John K. Sands, they moved to Oyster Bay, NY in 1960, where she continued to be involved with history museums and historic preservation, serving on the boards of the Friends of Raynham Hall, The Heckscher Museum of Art, and Preservation Long Island. Returning to work in New York in 1980, she directed the volunteer and intern program at the South Street Seaport Museum. This experience led to a job as part of the management team of the Long Island Volunteer Center. For nearly 30 years, Mrs. Sands, her children and their families rejoiced in restoring and maintaining her 18th century Martha's Vineyard farm-house. She is survived by her children Elizabeth Sands, Catherine Sands (Jeffrey Bliss), John Sands (Susan Sands) and Margaret Witham (David Witham) and her nine grandchildren Laura, Helen, Russell and Nolan Petty, Maya and Scarlet Sands Bliss, Zachary, Silas, and Hanna Witham, and her sister Joan Shepard and brother Thomas L. Pulling. She was predeceased by John K. Sands Sr. in 2011. Her sister Lucy Cutting died in 2024. Equestrian, tennis player, hiker, world traveler and gardener, she was committed to choral singing, especially sacred music, with groups in New York and Long Island.

A memorial service with glorious music will be held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Cold Spring Harbor, NY on October 11, 2025, at 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Friends of Raynham Hall and The Hecksher Museum of Art.