Alabama-native Amy Sandbothe lived in Oregon less than three years, but she developed connections that reached beyond her home in Seaside and across Clatsop County to Air Station Astoria, where she worked.

The U.S. Coast Guard pilot left last week, but she hopes to come back.

“Oregon is a big part of our lives,” Lt. j.g. Sandbothe said of her and her husband’s connection to the coast. “It’s the one place where I’ve been stationed where I’ve truly become part of the community, as opposed to someone who was living there for a few years.”

Members of the Coast Guard flow in and out of North Coast towns like the tide. As much as a third of the workforce at Coast Guard Group Astoria transfers to other stations each year, but Sandbothe left for a different reason, on a special request to leave active duty.

Last weekend, she drove home to Huntsville, Ala., with her husband, Duane, to care for her ailing mother. And she probably won’t be back soon – she’s due to have her first child in about five months.

But first, Sandbothe received a Coast Guard Achievement Medal for “superior performance of duty” at U.S. Coast Guard Group/Air Station Astoria last Friday.

The 36-year-old pilot filled numerous roles at the air station, according to the Coast Guard. As morale officer, she organized more than a dozen parties with as many as 400 guests. As a health coordinator, she established the agency’s local Wellness Program, leading aerobics classes, offering nutrition advice and working one-on-one with other officers on their personal fitness plans. As public affairs officer, she organized more than 1,000 station tours for community members.

And when the Discovery Channel show “SOS: Coast Guard” came to the coast to film daring rescues in the notoriously rugged terrain and weather conditions, Sandbothe oversaw 26 weeks of taping. She also coordinated two weeks of filming for the major motion picture “The Guardian” at Washington’s Cape Disappointment, and flew helicopters in multiple scenes.

“Sandbothe’s diligence, perseverance and devotion to duty are most heartily commended,” stated a certificate that accompanied her achievement medal.

It wasn’t her first award.

In the past few years, she flew more than 500 hours in Air Station Astoria’s HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters, providing “outstanding leadership and professionalism in the cockpit,” according to the Coast Guard, and executing 36 search-and-rescue cases. She saved 17 lives and assisted 21 others.

Her aviation skills were “especially noteworthy” in three nighttime rescue cases “that pushed the limits of the aircraft and crew while saving five lives,” according to the agency.

Sandbothe received an Air Medal for “heroic achievement” in one of those cases, when in October 2004, she flew a helicopter through a storm to rescue two men stranded on a boat more than 200 miles off the coast of Washington.

She didn’t have to accept the mission, but she did, noting in December 2005: “We were their last chance.” Despite 50-knot winds and 20- to 30-foot seas, Sandbothe and a Coast Guard crew lifted the men safely into the helicopter and took them back to shore.

It was her most memorable flight.

“I’ve had some amazing flights, but the one that truly stands out is the one with the Air Medal,” she said. “Air Medals are for aviators what a Bronze Star for Courage is for folks on the ground serving. They’re very prestigious.”

Her husband, a National Guard pilot stationed in Afghanistan at the time, saw similar success. The same month she received the air award, her husband flew a dangerous mission and received an Air Medal for his courage as well. “We’re the only couple I know who earned medals in the same month, but about 10,000 miles apart,” Sandbothe said.

The couple met at flight school at Alabama’s Fort Rucker.

Sandbothe was an Army combat pilot for eight years, an instructor pilot for three of them, before joining the Coast Guard in 2003. She and her husband, then her fiance, were recently engaged when they drove across the country to Oregon in the fall of that year. It was on the trip that Duane was given orders to go to the Middle East.

“Our spring wedding plans were postponed back home, and we eloped right here in the Coast Guard Chaplain’s Office,” Sandbothe said. When her husband came back, the two married again – Oct. 8, 2005, at Calvary Episcopal Church in Seaside.

It’s one of the many connections that tie them to Oregon, Sandbothe said. While she wasn’t yet pregnant, they even discussed baby names on their drive here.

Cindy French, of Seaside, said Sandbothe became an integral part of her life and in the community.

They met almost two years ago, French said, “And she’s been part of the family ever since.”

“There were times when people were sick, and she’d find the time to bake and cook, to take casseroles to their families,” French said. “She’d say, ‘That’s what we do back home.’ But she always had that special touch no matter where she’s at.”

Her co-workers agreed.

“She’s one of the guys,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Jeff Gearhart, who worked with her at the air station and became a close friend. He said Sandbothe was easy to work with and never made excuses.

“You didn’t have to worry about what you said around her,” Gearhart said. “She held her own … She told you what she felt and had no problem with that. Everybody liked her.”

She encouraged him to get more involved in the community as well, and he joined the Elks because of it.

Sandbothe said she’ll miss those community links, but also her work with the Coast Guard. While she’s taking time off now, she plans to return to flying.

“The ocean is just phenomenal here, but more importantly, I’ve had so many opportunities in my three years here to rescue people and to help folks here on the coast,” she said. “I’ve never had the opportunity to help so many people before. That is what I will truly miss the most.”