Sara Z. Machala

Sara Zievert Machala was born on July 21, 1931, at her family’s farm in Washington on the Brazos, Texas, to Stephen and Genevieve Zievert. Sara was brought into this world by her grandmother and midwife, Mary Kaminski, and was the middle child of older sister, Alvinia and younger brother, Isadore Joseph. In 1937, the family moved to Houston where Alvinia, Sara and Isadore attended Christ the King parochial school. While at school, Sara was involved with the school choir and an active member of the Society of the Virgin Mary. Sara had a happy childhood filled with reading, board games and embroidery.

During World War II, Sara and her siblings helped with the family Victory Garden, participated in paper drives and even rolled bandages for the Red Cross. Sara attended Regan High School in Houston, where she excelled in sports and math and was a member of the National Honor Society.

After graduation, Sara worked for Gordon Jewelers and Humble Oil Corporation (now Exxon) where she met and fell in love with Charles Machala Jr., whom she married in 1952. Sara was the loving mother of six children: Mark, Denise, Timothy, Charles, Judith and Andrea. Although the family moved a lot in the early years, living in New Mexico, Utah and Georgia, Texas was always their home.

Sara was a fabulous cook who loved to garden and took pride knowing that she passed these skills on to each of her children. She was a homeroom mother and active in the PTA at St. Elizabeth and Bishop Dunne, where her children attended school. In her later years, Sara worked at Mountain View College for the dean and when she was 60 years old, she earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara finished her career at Vought Aerospace, where she worked on the C-17 and B-2 programs before retiring. While in retirement, Sara happily spent her time quilting, working on her embroidery, and helping raise her grandson Charles.

It is clear that Sara's Catholic faith played a pivotal role in all aspects of her long life. Sara taught theology classes in Utah and Georgia and she was a member of St. Elizabeth's parish for 46 years. Sara was particularly honored to donate the Immaculate Heart of Mary stained glass window to St. Elizabeth’s in her family’s honor.

Most importantly, Sara loved everyone in her family. She was proud of her six children and all their accomplishments and took real pride and joy in her grandchildren: Charles, Erin, Natalie and Elise, and more recently her six-week-old great-granddaughter, Madeleine. Sara also loved her daughters-in-law, Sherie and Susan, sons-in-law, Tom and King, grandson-in-law Zach, granddaughter-in-law Wenshing, and her beloved dog, Mimi.

Sara will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.