Sarah
Graves, 85, of Franklin, Mass., formerly of Wrentham, Mass., passed
away on June 19, 2024, after a long decline from Alzheimer’s
disease.
She
was born in Indiana on July 6, 1938, to the late Donald and Mildred
(Charters) Leavitt.
Sarah
grew up all over the Midwest, moving around for her father’s job. The
family eventually moved east, and she met her late husband, Kenneth,
at a youth group at Wayne Presbyterian Church in the Philadelphia
area. They raised their family in Pennsylvania before moving to
Wrentham in 1972. Sarah and her family were longtime members at the
Original Congregational Church in Wrentham, where Sarah was very
involved in committees and activities.
For
over 35 years, Sarah worked as an office manager for New England
Controls. This was much more than a job to her: she loved it and
thrived on the responsibility and respect she found there. She was
part of a generation when having a full-time job and running a
household at the same time was a relatively new thing, but she
managed to make it look easy most of the time, seldom complaining (at
least not around us!). She was an active community member and
volunteered at church and the town council on aging. She was always
looking for ways she could pitch in and offer a helping hand, never
looking for recognition, but wanting to lighten the burden for
others. She was a kind and loving person, and she really enjoyed
people and treasured her social connections.
In
her free time, she loved to play tennis, read and spend time with her
family. She was known for making her home a welcoming space for
people to gather, whether it was friends from their various social
circles, work colleagues or her children’s friends. She was an avid
Celtics fan and enjoyed watching the games and cheering them on,
often yelling advice at the television and pounding on the arm of the
couch. Sarah also loved animals, from cats and dogs to horses and
cows. Her favorite part of the county fair was always the animal
barns — certainly NOT the rides.
She
is survived by her daughters, Susan Poe, of Upton, Mass., and Sheryl
Graves, of Winooski, Vt., and her grandchildren, Morgan, Devon and
Hannah.
We
would like to thank her caretakers at the Enclave of Franklin Memory
Care Unit, especially Garveline, and the Family and Faith Hospice
staff, including nurse Mike and social worker, Susan. It was so
helpful and reassuring to be able to rely on them to keep her safe
and comfortable during the times when we could not be with her.
In
lieu of flowers, donations in Sarah’s name may be made to the
Wrentham Council on Aging/Wrentham Senior Center, Dana Farber Cancer Institute or the Alzheimer’s Association.
To
send an online condolence, please visit the funeral home website at
rjrossfuneralhomeinc.com.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2024.