Yours, Mine and Sandy’s

April 8, 2022 Guest Contributor

Edward and Sandy Gutman (Provided Photo)

By Edward J. Gutman

This is a love story that begins one Saturday afternoon at a market in Baltimore.

I met a woman with movie star looks who, like in a movie, had me with hello and would become my wife of 56 years.

Her name was Sandy. I called her, and precisely at the moment she answered her phone, my life changed in ways no one could have imagined, least of all me.

She told me she was divorced and had three children, ages 11, 8 and 5. She explained they were adopted because an operation at age 16 left her unable to have children.

I told her I was a lawyer. She told me she had not been to college but worked as a fashion model at the department stores in downtown Baltimore.

We started dating and soon discovered that love happened, either from the moment we met or at that first phone call. We decided after a few months to get married, and I became father to the three children.

We married on Valentine’s Day of 1964 with my new children standing as witnesses. After our honeymoon, we began enjoying married life. I worked as a lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board, and Sandy continued her fashion modeling job at the department stores.

Not long afterward, we bought an eight-bedroom house in the Mount Washington area. As it turned out, beginning one day in June of 1966, we would need all eight rooms. That day, Sandy’s friend, who worked in the office of a local OB/GYN, called and told her a patient was about to give birth but would not be able to keep the baby. She asked if Sandy and I might be interested in adopting the baby. We already had three but we said sure, and on June 26, 1966, number four became a member of the family.

In 1969, number five child joined the family, through what was then known as the Associated Jewish Charities and Welfare Fund. A few years later, the friend who worked for the OB/GYN called again and told Sandy another child was soon to be born to a patient. She asked whether we would like to adopt the child, and on Feb. 1, 1971, a baby girl arrived.

The addition gave us a family of six children. Nightly, Sandy prepared and served dinner for eight, all while continuing her work as a fashion model.

But one day, she said she wanted to take a course in English literature at a local community college. She earned an A, took another course and scored another A. Encouraged by her success, she enrolled full-time to study English literature at the University of Baltimore, from which she graduated summa cum laude. She then had the option of continuing her education at Johns Hopkins University for a Ph.D. in English literature or going to law school. She chose the latter, and three years later graduated, again with honors.

Then, Sandy began a law career that could never have been imagined for a woman who had not started her higher education until well into her mid-40s with six children.

All this time, I had a busy career. After years of working as a lawyer for the NLRB, I became a partner at several local law firms. In addition to my law practice, I was appointed labor commissioner of Baltimore City by then-Mayor Tommy D’Alesandro III. Later, I was appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley to the Maryland Labor Relations Board and became chairman.

While all that was happening, Sandy was busy with her law career. She had become a lawyer in the Baltimore City Law Department and served as chief of the city’s Land Use Division. She regularly appeared as counsel for the city in the Circuit Courts of Baltimore City, the Maryland Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Circuit Court for the 4th Circuit.

Finally, this woman appeared as counsel before the Supreme Court of the United States. I was in the courtroom that day and can still recall the chills I experienced when the chief justice of the United States announced, “Mrs. Gutman, the court will hear from you,” and she rose and said, “Mr. Chief Justice and may it please the Court.”

Sandy continued what had become an illustrious career in the City Law Department until her retirement. She had post-career plans working for the Innocence Project and other law-related activities, but her plans never happened.

After a long, heartbreaking period of declining health, this woman — who was mother to six adopted children when she set out on a journey that brought her a life of achievements and wonder — died of Alzheimer’s disease on Mar. 2, 2019.

She is missed by everyone in the family — and outside. In her memory, the University of Baltimore School of Law recently agreed to establish the Sandra R. Gutman Student Award for Excellence.

This is the end of the story. And while it could be described as a love story, it is more about the love of a woman who enjoyed an astonishing career while raising a loving family of six children.

Edward J. Gutman is a former principal at the law firms of Semmes, Bowen & Semmes and Blum, Yumkas, Mailman and Gutman & Denick. He is a member of the Maryland State Labor Relations Board.