We would like to share with you memories & musings of our mom. She was so unique. She marched to the beat of her own drum. She had a firm opinion on most everything and a highly evolved sense of duty and personal values. She was certain in all situations and stalwart in her beliefs.

In so many ways she made our childhood an exciting adventure. She threw us the most fantastical birthday parties, over the top, hiding treasures in homemade birthday cakes. We would go on excursions around town on the city bus, just so she could point out things we might miss seeing in the car. She’d wake us up in the very early morning hours to watch Space Shuttle launches.

She would take us for sunrise picnics on Bachman lake. We would go on horse packing trips through New Mexico. We canoed the Buffalo River & camped along the way. We would camp in Texarkana. For these trips she knocked herself out cooking her fabulous fare, freezing it all for travel so that we could feast at the end of a long day outdoors. Her love of the outdoors was translated to us through all of our adventures.

One year we received 5 ducklings as a gift from our aunt. After we had gone to bed she would put on her favorite Rachmaninoff and march those ducklings through the house for an evening bath in our tub as we fell asleep to the sounds of quacking.

Mom was one of the most creative people you ever had the pleasure to meet. Whether it was her incredible cooking, church banners, parties she catered, dresses for school dances, splatter painted clothes (this had a life of its own!), homemade Christmas stockings, special presents for no reason; no one came close to matching her. She decoupaged our fridge with English garden images. People were always asking for her decorating advice. Creativity was her normal, it’s where she was her best self.

Mom’s true connection on this earth was with animals. Some may say it was St. Francis. We respectfully say nope, it was just Sally. She flew her dogs Thumper & Flaps home from Germany in actual seats on the plane. Stray dogs found their way to her. Even our cousin’s dog finally came to live with us when she would continually show up to our house. There were cats and birds living together. There were ducks for which ponds were built. We had rabbits living inside the house, trained to litter boxes. We had rabbits living in the back yard, so many rabbits! For this and so many reasons more she was dubbed ‘zoomom’ which became her namesake personalized license plate.

We know she has gone to a better place and is looking down on us smiling while trying to pet 14 different dogs!