Sally Spindler Emde died peacefully at home on Friday, the 16th of February 2018. Sally was born in Valparaiso, Indiana on the 14th of September 1926. She grew up in Valpo with her parents, Lois and Cecil Spindler, her younger sister, Mary, and her grandparents, who lived next door.
Sally went to Ferry Hall boarding school and then entered Purdue University. There she met her future husband, William Emde, though it took them a few years to get together. She and Bill married in 1951, arrived in Houston in early 1952, and remained here, where they raised their family and lived a happy, successful, adventure-filled life. Sally was a wonderful homemaker for Bill and their four children, Tom, Goody, Katy, and Rick. She served as the accountant for Bill’s new company, the Emde Company, and drove the kids to swimming practice, piano lessons, ballroom dancing classes, tennis lessons, and horseback riding sessions, among other things. She also found time to learn to play guitar, take art classes, play bridge regularly and give great parties, for which she acted as an outstanding hostess. No one left an Emde party hungry or not feeling better than when they arrived.
As the children got older Sally decided to go back to school and get her degree. She was still involved with her kids and carpooling, but after 17 semesters she graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971.
Sally continued to have a large number of interests and activities, such as water skiing, snow skiing, tennis, swimming, exercising, and reading. She even decided to train and renew her pilot’s license. She was in a couple of regular monthly poker and bridge groups and she loved playing cards with her friends as much as almost anything she did.
Rather late in life Sally and Bill developed a love of nature and animals. They took their grown kids to see both polar bears and brown bears in Alaska and Canada, which were experiences everyone cherished. She and Bill also visited the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, another treasured trip. They endured a long, rough, muddy trail to get to the camp but the time spent with the gorillas was never to be forgotten.
She will be deeply missed by her family and friends, who will especially miss her beautiful, warm smile, her sense of humor, her good spirit, and her hugs.
She is preceded in death by her husband, William Emde, her daughter, Mary Lois Emde, and her sister, Mary Gordon. She is survived by her children, Thomas Emde, Katy Emde, and Richard Emde and his wife, Christie, by her 6 grandchildren, Thomas Emde, Jr. and his wife, Sharon, Marc Emde, Pati Cumby, Belinda Eckols, and her husband, Nelson, Natialie McAden and her husband, Allen, and Jori Emde and her husband, Zak Pelaccio, and her 11 great grandchildren.
The family wishes to thank Esther Jacobo, her housekeeper of 32 years, for all her care and love during that time and to thank all her caregivers who were so kind and thoughtful during the last year.
Friends are cordially invited to gather and share remembrances of Sally with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Tuesday, the 6th of March, in the grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, the 7th of March, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road in Houston.
In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed toward Best Friends Animal Society (Utah), 5001 Angel Canyon Rd. Kanab, UT, 84741; or to the Salvation Army, Greater Houston Area Command, 1500 Austin St., Houston, TX, 77002; or to the charity of one’s choice.
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