Following a brief illness in Santa Barbara, Sally passed on to join “Big G” and her mother Mabelle (Rogers), father J. William, brothers and spouses William and Maxine, James, Dan and Katherine, Mac and Darlene, and daughter Cally. She is survived by sons and daughters-in-law, Woode and Cheryl, Mitch and Trine ; grand-daughters Corinne and Sofia; grandson Dylan; great grandsons C.J. and Carter, sister-in-law Elsie and many nieces and nephews and countless friends whom she considered nothing less than family.
A celebration of Sally Sunshine´s shimmering life will be held 1:30 p.m. on May 5 at the Alano Club (235 Cota St, Santa Barbara) and at the a future date in Marengo (Iowa). All are encouraged to wear caps, brims, hats, and bright, bold colors, reflective of Sally´s fashion taste and spirit.
An Oct. 9 1930 obituary in The Pioneer-Republican of Iowa County wrote that William Jefferson Sayers (Sally´s grandfather) “exemplified those worthy qualities of integrity, faithfulness and honor which won him many friends to whom he always proved to be a loyal and trustworthy friend.”
More than 88 years later, Sally was described by peers precisely the same. In addition she was a fearless, adventurous and independent woman an thinker, a vivacious and veracious conversationalist, a pioneering health enthusiast (The Orchid Door, the Mary Lee Way, Zone Therapy), but first and foremost , a wonderful mother who provided her children with love and well being through thik and thin.
She was born Sally Ann Sayers on a farm northwest of Marengo that her grandfather started farming the north side of 50 years earlier. Sally was raised during a time when frugality was a must, working very hard just to survive was the norm and complaining didn’t get you anywhere. She was raised in a place where the axe was the thermostat, ice was cut from the river in the winter then stored to provide cool during the summer, and butter was churned at home, (although she always preferred store bought “town” butter). She grew up in a time of war, one that was survived by her brother Billy but took her oldest brother Jim when she was a sophomore in high school.
Sally first attended country school about a half-mile away from the home farm but when she started growing into a young lady, she was sent to attend school and live in town about seven miles away with her Auntie Dell. Sally often said that according to her Dad: “ The Country school had too many boys.” She was president of the local Marengo and Iowa County 4H clubs, president of her high school freshman class, and a member of the glee club.
She played on the high school basketball squad, which explains her later-in-life love for the game and devotion to the Lakers (“Yippe”). She cherished her rural upbringing and spoke of it fondly but admitted she may have been a bit spoiled because she had a loving mother and father, and most of all, four loving and protective older bothers.
Sally went to the University of Iowa where she was immediately swept off her feet by her charming future husband Jim Stephens, the father of her children. They were married in 1950 in the home farm and shortly after moved to suburbia Southern California to raise a family. She had four children (one passed at birth), but in 1960 the marriage ended with Sally taking custody of kids ages 7, 5, and 1.
She worked tirelessly for her children, most notably at JPL as human computer, and after a couple years was able to buy her first little house in La Crescenta (Calif.). Sally and her children would have a wonderful life together, but the early times were a struggle. Those struggles headed her down the road toward alcohol dependency that she had the sense of recognize and fortitude to battle. With the support of life-long friends, her sponsor Jack, and the many others fighting the addiction, she joined AA and quit drinking on Jan. 28, 1963. She said that decision, along with quitting a three pack-a-day cigarette habit (cold turkey) a few year later, saved her life. Sally then found her calling as, a sale representative, with Cory Coffee Service and the person we know as Sally Sunshine began to glow. California ran a new ribbon of concrete through her little house so she bought a bigger home with garage in La Crescenta to accommodate her older kids and friends, motes, and a brand new ´66 GTO. Nothing was going to slow Sally.
She remarried in 1967 to strapping boat captain Howard Anderson who was stationed out of Santa Barbara where she moved the family in 1969. Finding the right house in Santa Barbara using reputable agents did not click so Sally took charge, a pattern that carved her life. Searching on her own, she drove up a small winding road above the Santa Barbara Mission, discovered a “for sale” sign at the bottom of a very long uphill driveway with ho house visible. Always up for an adventure — she once parachuted out of and airplane at age 65 — Sally took the steep drive and discovered the family’s Shangri-la, a simple quiet home later nicknamed “Sunshine Hill,” where she lived her final 50 years.
Her second marriage ended in 1970, but with two teens and an adolescent to support she found another path, earning a license as a real estate agent. It is then her warm and authentic personality bloomed and never stopped. Fittingly in 1971, Sally bought a ´70 Oldsmobile Cutlass Rallye 350 that was, bumpers and all, canary yellow and her adventure in real estate started with Sunset Reality. Although the cost of living was fierce, competition often brutal and the housing market, at times, dried up, Sally no only persevered, but she flourished.
For the next five decades, she called upon her sobriety, practical and prideful Iowa family and upbringing, analytical brain, wit, humor, bright/bold fashion sense, strong will and fit body — she hiked religiously until her finals days in the Mission Ridge/El Encanto region — compassionate heart and unyielding faith, and loving friends and family, to succeed in business and life.
She volunteered at elder care facilites Samarkand and the Friendship Center, where she was a member of the board. She gave countless charities and her political party. She survived breast cancer at age 80. Most of all, each and every day, Sally gave a radiant spirit and smile that could warm a room, and office building, a home, the world.
During her final years, especially, Sally received a mountain of local support from her Mt. Rushmore of friends, Kathy Hughes, Virginia Robbins, Pat Saraca, Michael Woodward and Dianne Trower.
To her family, friends, clients and those struggling with alcohol addiction, she was a truly caring and loving person. To her children she was love, support and inspiration. To all, she was our Sally Sunshine.
Her dinner blessing always ended with “Thank you God for all you have given us and all you taken away.” Thank you Sally for all you gave to us. It will be never be taken away.
In lieu of flowers, please give generously to Alcoholics Anonymous, The Friendship Center, the American Cancer Society, Pacifica Senior Living Santa Barbara, Assisted Home Health & Hospice, Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care, Santa Barbara and the California Central Coast Alzheimer’s Association.
