Sarah Towne
Your
Editor
Sarah introduces herself as
just an “ole country tomboy”. She was
raised with her older brother, Alvie and younger sister, Linda, on the
outskirts of the small town of
One Saturday night he walked
into the kitchen with a newborn pig whose mother had rolled on him crushing his
hip. He asked his wife if she could do
anything to save it. (Thinking of all
the bacon and ham they would have a few months later.) She said no and he said he’d take it out
behind the barn and knock it in the head with the hammer at which point Sarah
pitched a class A fit. Finally mom took
the pig, placed the body in a canning jar lid box, made splints with popsicle
sticks, made a bed of a gunny sack in a bushel basket and prepared a bottle of
milk with a rubber nipple. She gave
Sarah the bottle saying, “Here’s your pig.
Take care of it.”
She took to the challenge and
“Oinky” became the best pet she ever had.
He was never penned up and thought he was a dog. He came when called and Sarah was heartbroken
when he was hit by a car a few years later. (One of the many things the dogs
taught him was to chase cars.)
She fondly remembers the one
room schoolhouses she attended. She learned to dance the two-step and jitterbug
around the potbellied stove when it was too snowy to be outside competing with
the boys in sports. She played both
basketball and softball in high school.
The basketball talent came from her mother who was on the 1937 National
Championship team in college. In
softball Sarah was a starting pitcher.
She went to work at the age
of 14 serving meals at the hospital and then washing all the dishes. Other jobs
she held during her high school years were waitress, carhop at A&W, soda
jerk and keeping the books of a car dealership.
Upon graduation at the age of
17 there was no money for college, but her mother said she could scrape
together enough for business school tuition if Sarah could take care of
everything else. So off she went to
When she finished business
school she returned to
Sarah promptly got a job as a
secretary at a vending company. Her
husband kept insisting that if she was going to work it should be for the
telephone company. Finally after three years
she interviewed with AT&T. They
wanted to hire her as a secretary, but she wanted something different. She finally accepted a job in the clerical
pool of the engineering department.
After a couple of months of total boredom she asked what did she have to
do to become an engineer’s assistant? (an entry level management position). She was told the minimum was to have college
credits in algebra and trigonometry. She
quickly enrolled in night school; getting her credits. It wasn’t too long
before her division manager scheduled her for management training. If she passed the class the promotion would
be hers. However, before she could
start, her husband got a transfer. So
being a loyal wife in the sixties she quit her job, packed her bags and moved to
Once there she applied for a
position in the engineering department with Pacific Telephone. They offered secretary or accounting. But about a week before she started, after
checking her references and talking to her former bosses, they called with a
change in plans. She was soon working as
an engineering aide, a non-management position.
She worked for an engineer who encouraged her by sharing his knowledge
and teaching her as much as she wanted to learn. A few years later along came the beginnings
of women’s lib and she was promoted to transmission engineer.
In the 18 years she and Roger
were married they enjoyed traveling and sports.
She is still an avid
At Pac
While working at Pac
Sarah loves traveling and
with her first husband made many trips to foreign destinations. She encouraged
Bob to join her in this hobby. After one
trip through Scandinavia and
In her 30’s Sarah had
joyfully resumed playing softball: pitching in a Slo-pitch league in Elk Grove
and both pitching and playing second base in a fast-pitch league in
Folsom. When an opposing player twice
her size took her out at second she decided she was getting too old for this
stuff and hung up her cleats. However,
now that she’s in her second childhood she realizes you’re never too old to
play softball. Although she says she
wouldn’t go back on the pitcher’s mound without a knight’s suit of armor.
She and Bob moved here seven
years ago and although she was somewhat tied down caring for Bob and her
mother, who had Alzheimer’s, she found time to play softball, umpire and run
the scoreboard. She lost both Bob and
her sister Linda within a week of each other a year ago and has really
appreciated the support of her fellow softball players. She says that the hugs, personally delivered
condolences and phone calls kept her going and she can never thank each of you
enough.
Sarah has been so impressed
with the players in our league that she thought they would like to get to know
more about each other, so she began this series of articles for the “Meet Your
Fellow Players” feature on our website.
She is a dedicated duplicate
bridge player, competing 2-3 times a week and you can usually find her name in
the top three scorers. She quilts to
relax, reads a couple books a week and is a crackerjack Up-words player. She has started shooting pool again and plans
to resume playing golf; and at the ripe old age of ??? has determined to learn
to play piano. She is taking lessons and
diligently practicing with a goal of playing boogie-woogie, rag-time and blues.
When asked to sum up what she
thought of her journey from an ole country tomboy to a successful business
executive to an active, vital senior citizen, Sarah said, “You’ve come a long
way baby!”