EARLVILLE – Sally Schmidt Keller, 75, of 549 Reynolds Hill Rd., Earlville, and Polk City, Fla., died peacefully at home with her family by her side on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, following a long illness.
She was born in New Hartford, in 1932, a daughter of Karl and Minnie Oster Schmidt. She had lived in Rochester, Oklahoma, Central New York and the Hudson Valley before retiring to Lebanon in 1989. Sally loved classical music and had played the oboe and piano in high school. She was an accomplished knitter, an avid birdwatcher, and enjoyed camping with her family. She also enjoyed parasailing, paragliding, hot air ballooning and fishing despite her incapacity. During her retirement she traveled with her husband to Alaska and Newfoundland. She was a former dental hygienist and Commodore of the Rollins Pond Yacht Club.
Sally was a loving and devoted wife and friend to Paul, her husband of more than fifty years; a loving mother and confidant to her sons Michael and Scott, and daughters-in-law, Dee and Erin; and a large figure in the lives of her grandchildren, Daniel, Matthew, John, Nathanial, Samantha and Nicole. She will be sorely missed by all.
A memorial service will be held at her home at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Friends and family are asked to RSVP by phone.
There will be no formal calling hours, but friends are invited to come early to the service to pay their respects.
In lieu of flowers, Sally’s family has requested that donations in her memory be made to the American Heart Association, Heart Gifts Processing Center, PO Box 3049, Syracuse, NY 13220-3049; the American Cancer Society, 100 Lomond Ct., Utica, NY 13502; or Hospice and Palliative Care, 4277 Middle Settlement Rd., New Hartford, NY 13413.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Burgess & Tedesco Funeral Home, 3 Preston St., Earlville.