Sara Francis (Brown) McCallie

Sara was born in Lake City, Florida, to her parents, William Edgar Brown, MD and Sara Elizabeth Price Brown. In early childhood, Sara and her family moved to Native American reservations in Florida, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, where her father served as a surgeon in the federal Indian Field Service. Sara and her younger brother, Hugh Pearce (“Bucky”) Brown, MD, spent summers visiting grandparents in Greensboro, Georgia. William Brown later served as a battlefield surgeon in North Africa in World War II and passed away in 1946 due to complications from war-related injuries when Sara was ten years old. Her family then relocated to Chattanooga.

Sara graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1955, where she played varsity basketball and won championship titles in swimming and diving. She met Spencer McCallie while they were both in high school in 1954, the same year she was crowned Miss East Ridge—and he was struck by her grace and no-nonsense charm. Sara’s then-boyfriend instructed the younger Spencer to “take care of Sara” while the boyfriend left for college. Spencer resolved to do just that, and the two became inseparable for the next seventy-two years. After high school, Sara attended and graduated from the Erlanger School of Nursing. Sara and Spencer married on November 28, 1959, ten days after Spencer became an officer in the U.S. Navy.

Sara began married life as the wife of a Naval Officer stationed in Sasebo, Japan, where Spencer was often at sea. Sara returned to Chattanooga two years later, one daughter in tow while expecting another, when her husband began his teaching career at the McCallie School. The family took up residence in a dormitory apartment, and a son soon followed.

For 37 years, Sara was a beloved member of the McCallie School family where her husband became Headmaster in 1974. As the wife of a teacher and later an administrator at a school which included boarding students, Sara’s daily life was intertwined with the rhythms of the school, a life she fully embraced with grace and composure. She attended thousands of plays, musical performances, and sporting events, and ate thousands of meals with hundreds of boys at the school dining hall. She had a ready ear for students, faculty, campus urchins (children of faculty including her own) and spouses of faculty. She opened her home on countless occasions to host students, faculty, parents, alumni, and board members. Her husband said that without Sara’s support, assistance, and good counsel, he would not have been able to successfully lead the McCallie School for twenty-five years.

In addition to her many school-related activities, Sara worked as a nurse and social worker for Senior Neighbors while her children were in elementary school. Later, she worked as a circulating nurse in surgery for fifteen years at Memorial Hospital. Always placing others’ needs before her own, she cared for aging family members until their passing.

After Spencer’s retirement in 1999, Sara and Spencer moved to their home on Ware Branch of Chickamauga Lake in Harrison, Tennessee, where Sara, a gifted artist, enjoyed painting, gardening, and being a grandmother and a gracious host of many large family gatherings.

Sara also loved to travel, approaching new places and cultures with intellectual curiosity and aplomb. Together, Sara and Spencer traveled extensively to the Far East, Africa, Europe, and North and South America.

After moving to a townhouse with Spencer on Cherry Street in Chattanooga in 2008 and later to Alexian Village on Signal Mountain in 2021, Sara continued to open her home to family for many happy gatherings. Sara was a loving and beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and in-law, and her death leaves an enormous void within the family.

Sara is preceded in death by her mother, Sara Elizabeth Fricks; father, William Edgar Brown, MD; stepfather, Delmar G. Fricks; and brother, William (“Billy”) Brown.

She is survived by her husband of sixty-seven years, Spencer Jarnigan McCallie III; brother, Hugh Pearce (“Bucky”) Brown, MD (Judy); children: Sara Rebecca McCallie (James Burkhart and son Luke (Destinee)), Katharine McCallie Gardner (Ellis), and Douglas Spencer McCallie (Karen); grandchildren: Spencer McCallie Gardner (Alison), Mary Rebecca Gardner (Megan Schippmann), Harper Lou McCallie, Thea Magnolia McCallie; great-grandchild, Aiden Marilyn Gardner; and many nephews and nieces. The family extends its deepest thanks to Sara’s long-time caregivers: Mia Edwards, Debra Scott, and Barbara Volpe.

A family burial service will be held at Forest Hills Cemetery Friday, July 10. A celebration of life will be held at 11:30 a.m. at St. John’s (former Mountain City Club), 729 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga. Visitation will follow the service at St. John’s.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the McCallie School.

Please share your thoughts and memories of Sara online with the family at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/east-ridge-tn/sara-mccallie-12957216

Arrangements are by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, East Chapel, 404 S. Moore Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37412