Sara "Sally" Altick Keller

Sara "Sally" Altick Keller of Logan, Utah, passed away in her home at the age of 91 on January 27, 2024. She passed peacefully, surrounded by friends and family, with music, prayers, conversation, and laughter filling the room.

Sally was born in Wichita, Kansas, the youngest of three siblings, on October 13, 1932, in room 13 at 13 minutes past the hour, thereby marking 13 as an auspicious number in her life - despite the prevailing view of 13 as an unlucky number.

An early indicator of Sally's interest in social justice was her insistence upon attending a public school - rather than the private girls' school run by her father - so that she could connect with people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. This keen interest in other people, cultures, and belief systems - whether in the US or overseas - was a theme throughout her life.

When she was 12 years-old, Sally and her family moved to Estes Park, Colorado, where she grew up skiing, fishing, and hiking in the Rocky Mountains. She made many lifelong friends at Cheley Colorado Camps through her participation as a camper, and work as a wrangler. While completing her degree in Elementary Education at the University of Colorado, she met her future husband Jack Keller. Sally and Jack's three-month-long honeymoon was spent at Martin Mountain fire lookout tower in the Challis National Forest in Idaho; Sally put her fishing skills to daily use on the River of No Return, catching fish for their supper.

Sally moved to Logan in 1960 following Jack's appointment as a professor in the Agricultural and Irrigation Engineering Department at Utah State University. She maintained a busy schedule through her volunteer work on the Logan City Planning and Zoning Commission, USU Women's Center Advisory Board, Logan Hospital Foundation, Logan City Foundation, as a PEO member (including serving as Utah PEO President), Girl Scout leader, de facto college counselor, and with the Presbyterian Church - all while working for Jack's engineering consulting firm and raising three children. Sally also traveled extensively to work with women's cooperatives in Guatemala, India, Nepal, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

Sally was a highly skilled fiber artist, who used her spinning, knitting, and sewing skills to weave a diverse fabric of relationships both locally and globally. She created all manner of useful and fashionable apparel for herself as well as for relatives and friends. Later in life, her wardrobe expanded to include handmade, fair trade clothing made by women from all over the world. Sally was an active member of NUFA, the Northern Utah Fiber Artists group.

Later in her career, when most people would have retired, Sally established Global Village Gifts, the only 100% fair-trade arts and crafts store in Utah - a completely voluntary labor of love that she called her "fourth child". Sally retired from this enterprise when she turned 80, but Global Village Gifts continues to thrive. Global Village Gifts is a manifestation of Sally's long-term passion for creating more opportunities for women, and of her enduring curiosity about other cultures. Reflecting Sally's keen interests in social justice, community building, and sustainability, she also devoted significant time, energy, and funding to organizations including Utah Public Radio, Citizens Against Physical & Sexual Abuse (CAPSA), Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection (CRIC), SERRV International, International Development Enterprises (iDE), and Tucson Village Farm.

Sally maintained an exceptional level of mental and social agility as she aged, competing with much younger relatives on word games and puzzles. She welcomed people of all ages and backgrounds into her home, and sought to understand current events from a variety of perspectives. Less than 24 hours before her passing, "Grandma Sal" was solving a Wordle with some of her grandchildren.

Sally's large fruit and vegetable garden kept her active outdoors from planting through the harvest, and she shared the bounty with friends and family. It was not uncommon to find Sally in her kitchen with her heavily tattooed grandsons and their partners towering over her, baking and cooking together. "Grandma Sal" had clear operating procedures for her kitchen, and recently wrapped one of her grandsons in a firm collar tie hold to address him nose-to-nose when she felt he was not following those procedures correctly. She was revered by family and friends for her skills in the kitchen.

Family and friends remember Sally as an intellectually curious, kind, compassionate, and generous person who sought to make the world a better place through her personal actions as well as through the people and organizations she supported and mentored. As one of her grandchildren said, "The love you've given those around you will continue to spread for generations to come. I promise to remember you often, with a big smile and warm heart."

Sally is survived by her two sons, Andy and Jeff, daughter Jude; grandchildren Ian, Antonia, Maria, Malayna, Riki, Max, Avery, and Zayk; and great-grandson Sonny.

Sally's family suggests memorial contributions to Utah Public Radio and Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection.

A Celebration of Life in Sally's memory will be held at 3:00 PM on June 7, 2024 at the Presbyterian Church, followed by a gathering at River Hollow Park at 4:30 PM.