Our family lost our matriarch on September 6, 2017.
Sara Gene Loy was a multi-talented woman who was known for her kindness and caring nature.
Her first priority in life was her family. She married her love Vance in 1953 having finished her college degree in mathematics in three years because, as my dad used to say, "She didn't want a catch like me to get away!" They went to Oklahoma State University for grad school where she became the first woman to receive a Masters degree in Mathematics. By 1957 she was the mother of two (Donna Wilson and Karen Wade) and an Army wife. She dealt with yearly change of station moves for six years and dealt with my dad's deployment to both Korea and Viet Nam. Her focus was her family but she kept busy with Girl Scouts, ceramics, sewing matching dresses for my sister and I and even learned more than she wanted to know about horses so she could share our passion.
She loved the sons-in-law (Paul and Jim) that were added to the family but when the grandkids (Laura, John and Matthew) came, that was magic. She made special Gra-Gra sandwiches and "pink stuff" (that was delicious but she never told the kids it had cottage cheese in it), she let them use her best acrylic paints for art projects and she supported as many of their school activities as she could get to.
As a great-grandmother she recognized the gifts of all her great-grandchildren (Jamison-almost 7, Breckin-5, Audrey and Cooper- 18 months). Going through their pictures never failed to bring a smile to her face and comments about how intelligent they all were.
She got her pilot's license because she wanted to try that. She tutored second and third graders in reading because she knew that to read well is to have your world opened. She patiently and skillfully taught math to high school students who had gotten left behind and showed them that they could succeed. She was a child of the segregated south and voted for our first African-American president. She never met a cat she didn't like. After the passing of Vance, she ventured out and became part of the Methodist Church family, made new friends and travelled with her special friend Ida. She loved Applebee's. And she could work a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle like no one else!
Our hearts are broken but we comfort ourselves with the memories of how she enriched our lives and the lives of others.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2017, at 9:00 am at Tres Hewell Mortuary Chapel followed by funeral services at 10:00 am with Rev. Cathe Evins officiating. Private interment will be held at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery at a later date.