Sarah "Sally" Robinson (Kolb) Bruner

Sarah “Sally” Robinson Bruner, 89, passed away on April 18th. She was born in Princeton, IN and graduated from Princeton, High School. She earned her BA from Indiana University. Sarah taught at Boonville HS, Evansville Day School, Bloomington North HS, and finally spent 18 years at Edgewood HS. She inspired students in drama, literature, speech, and journalism and shared her joy of traveling with many. Sarah meant so much to so many people. Three former colleagues and dear friends shared these impressions of her. The kids often called her “Mom.” She expected much from them, and they recognized that she wanted them to reach greater heights. For me, she provided trust and space to learn. I was a student teacher embarking on a second career, and what I needed was experience in the classroom. Sarah gave me a hundred college-bound seniors and a structure. I dove into senior English with precious little background or appreciation, knowing that in a month, the students and I would be visiting an exhibition at the IU Art Museum on “Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism.” I treasure the memories of her praise and words of encouragement. Through her generosity and support, I had a chance to develop into a decent teacher in my own right, largely through taking what she had given me and making it work in my own way. And for that debt that I can never repay, I am forever grateful, and I hope that I have relayed a portion of her spirit to the students who arrived after she retired. Thank you, Sarah ~~~

When I met Sarah in 1984, as her first student teacher, I was a 24-year old and she was almost 50. We clicked right away, and I was lucky to spend my entire career as part of an English department that she chaired until her retirement and imprinted with her professionalism, warmth and humor. She was such a memorable person, a mix of passions. Once a high school cheerleader in the small town of Princeton, Indiana, Sarah lived and breathed her education in liberal humanism as much as anyone I’ve met, talking Theseus and Hippolyta one minute and recipes for asparagus the next. A conversation with her might include bits of old jokes, snatches of Nichols and May routines, and impressions of a pub or painting she remembered from her trips abroad. Her fascinating homes welcomed you to old Hoosier farm pieces flanking a monumental brass rubbing from a tomb in a British church. I remember watching IU basketball one week at her condo and an adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales the next. Proud of her roots but utterly open to art and history and travel and people, she was a worldly Hoosier.

As a teacher and mentor, she reached beyond what the role demanded; she cared about many of her dozens of colleagues and thousands of students like family, cheering us and encouraging us–and sometimes nudging us– with words of open admiration and affection, like a loving parent. It’s no wonder that right up to her last days, former colleagues and students numbered among her many visitors. One colleague of hers said that Sarah “mastered the art of living graciously,” a mastery that included the joy of sharing meals with friends and family. Sarah was explicit about her values, about naming what was beautiful and good, what mattered. Into the last week of her life, she modeled how to live with the imminence of death. In her last six months she tried to see as many people as possible as often as she could, over lunch or for coffee. And somehow despite her terminal cancer, which she acknowledged openly, she was engaged with the world while still being jolly, a favorite word of hers —along with Cheers! To the end, she repeated similar sentiments. One was “I’m so sorry I’m not leaving the world in better shape for all of you.” And every time I left her in my last visits, she whispered, “Stop by as the spirit suits you” and then added these lines from TS Eliot: “In the room, the women come and go, Talking of Michelangelo!” Sarah infused a moment of invitation and affection with poetry and sly humor. She was a worldly Hoosier to her last breath. I loved her and cherished my time with her. ~~~

Sarah loved life. She had a sprawling family of cousins and semi cousins and she could confuse her friends by referring to "Sukey's house" or "Daniel's clam chowder" or" MJ"s broken hip. As a beloved faculty member of EHS she supported her many students and student teachers with expertise, tact, and her Saturday night get togethers where she would cook a pot of soup or bake something Italian she'd "played with" Her relationship with students, student teachers, and fellow faculty inspired life-long friendships. She loved travel and often took summer trips shepherding groups of teens to Wales , France, and Italy. She had entire book shelves of the different countries she visited: history, geography, biography and cuisine. Throughout her life she sheltered animals, adopting from shelters or just acquired through friends finding a homeless four legged critter. She loved art in all its forms and actively supported it : drawings and paintings, architecture, music and theater. She was an ardent supporter of PBS and never missed a documentary. In her last days, she often repeated: "I've had a very good life." ~~~

Sarah is survived by her step-daughters Kristi Stump (Dwight), Kathy Wise, and Lisa Latham (Keith), relatives, and a myriad of friends. She is preceded in death by her parents Jacob and Lela Kolb, brother Fred Kolb, and her beloved husband, Buddy “Rob” Bruner.

A graveside service will take place on Friday, May 9 at 1pm Central Time at Decker Chapel

Cemetery in Patoka, IN. Friends and family are welcome!

Memorial contributions may be made to WTIU, Hoosier Hills Food Bank, or City of Bloomington Animal Shelter.