Sara, the only child of Ralph Albert McAlister and Sarah Edna Vaughan McAlister, was born on January 25, 1932, in Nacogdoches. But for brief times away, she resided in Nacogdoches all her life.
She attended the Stephen F. Austin Demonstration School and was valedictorian of her 1947 Nacogdoches High School class. Sara attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and graduated from the University of Texas (B.A., History) and from the University of Texas School of Law (LL.B.).
In 1954, she married Edmund Frederic Benchoff, and together they raised their children, Edmund McAlister Benchoff and Sara Elizabeth Benchoff. Ed died in 1989. In 1994, she married Jack Raymond Stone who died in 2017.
She was a parishioner of Christ Episcopal Church for almost 60 years and formerly headed Christ Church’s Altar Guild.
From 1954 until the time of her death, Sara was a member of the State Bar of Texas, and she was a life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. She was also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. She chaired the city’s Sterne Hoya Museum committee during restoration of the house and grounds.
Sara took a lively interest in people, both in old friends and in new acquaintances. She was an avid reader. She loved to travel and had visited six continents. Sara swam regularly, delighted in entertaining guests, and especially enjoyed Wednesday afternoons spent with dear friends in her Bridge Club and the Heritage Club. She grew old roses and Cape Jasmine, and in their yard and pasture, she and her husband Ed planted numerous ornamental trees and hundreds of camellias and azaleas.
Sara is survived by her daughter who now lives in Dallas, her son who lives in Nacogdoches, five nieces and nephews, numerous cousins, and treasured childhood friends, Dorothy Morgan, Jean Colley, and Florence Patton.
Visitation will be from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, at Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Home. The funeral service is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, at Christ Episcopal Church, Nacogdoches, with burial to follow at Sunset Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Ed Morgan, Jr., Doug Jordan, John Kingham, David Shofner, Steven Molinari, and Steve Seale.
Each of the following would an appropriate recipient of any gift made in Sara’s memory: The Prayer Book Society (Society for the Preservation of the Book of Common Prayer, 1 West Macon Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401), Christ Church’s Living Stones Fund (c/o 1430 North Mound Street, Nacogdoches, 75961), and Hospice of East Texas (4111 University Boulevard, Tyler, Texas 75701).
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