Sally I. Ingalls

Sally Iris Ingalls, daughter of Evelyn H. and George B. Ingalls, passed from this life peacefully at her home in Holladay, Utah. She was born on August 9, 1945, and raised in Ogden, Utah. After having spent 32 years in a valiant battle continually jousting with Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), a very rare and untreatable autoimmune muscle wasting disease, Sally found freedom on December 15, 2022.

She graduated with high honors from Ogden High School (Go Tigers!) and attended Weber State College two years on scholarship. During these years she worked at her parent’s grocery store, George's Market, at 36^th Street and Quincy Avenue. She then graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah (Go Utes!), where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was then selected as the Speech and Hearing Department’s Most Outstanding Student and received a full ride scholarship for her master’s degree program and became a member of Phi Kappa Phi. After Magna Cum Laude graduation (for each of her degrees), she began working for the Salt Lake School District, where she remained for 31 years, retiring in 1994. During that time, she earned certification in learning disabilities diagnosis and remediation, helping hundreds of students overcome math, reading, comprehension and other educational problems, which helped lead them to improved academic skills.

While working full time, she earned a doctorate in School Psychology at the University of Utah (again Magna Cum Laude). Her intellectual and academic abilities were top-tier, leading the head of her doctoral committee to comment on one assignment that “your thinking is the most original I’ve seen in 20 years—we must publish this.”

In addition to her school district work, she was a psychologist in private practice with Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center. In both the district and private practice arenas she supervised and mentored psychology doctoral candidates as they worked on internships required for licensure.

Sally brought all of her abilities and plain old smarts to all of her endeavors. She was a first-rate athlete, enjoying a broad variety of sports—tennis, swimming, golf, bowling, river-rafting, baseball, volleyball, ping pong, and as a kid could fly kites higher than any of the neighborhood boys. Her skiing was powerful and executed with precision and beautiful form. She set up her college classes so she could ski every Friday and eventually introduced her two younger sisters to this fantastic sport.

Sally always brought the fun. Her birthday and Christmas gifts were selected with great care, especially her sister Georgia’s famous Pogo Stick. The parties and events she planned were totally the best, including the 50^th Birthday Party for the Pink Flamingo. She possessed a finely-honed sense of humor, loved telling jokes and had a treasure trove of them to share at gatherings and parties.

Her home was beautifully decorated in an oriental motif complete with a sublime asian patio garden designed by a master gardener from Red Butte Gardens. Her personal paradise featured huge volcanic rocks, a water fountain, lighting system and a plethora of exotic and gorgeous trees, grasses, plants, and flowers. This garden was her pride and joy, especially during her later years when she became confined to a wheelchair and could no longer travel.

Sally did love travel, both foreign and domestic. She visited Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong and China. Plus, she had a penchant for visiting U.S. National Parks, including Denali, Olympic, Glacier, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Zions, Bryce, Arches, Cedar Breaks, Carlsbad Caverns, Haleakala, and Hawai’i Volcanoes.

She was an avid reader, spending at least 20 years in a Salt Lake School District book group. She was a total whiz at playing Scrabble and usually had six or more games of Words with Friends going at the same time. She was a season ticket subscriber of the Utah Symphony and actively supported the arts.

All of her life she was an aficionado of the Caped Crusader. She had tons of Batman paraphernalia even using Batman postage stamps and decorating her wheelchair as a Batmobile complete with a Bat-1 Gotham City license plate. 

Then there’s cats. She adored her feline friends and owned many darling kitty companions throughout her life, starting when she was a little girl. Naming them was serious business—e.g., Zeebie, Mackie Bob, Targhee Jo, Mugsy Iris, and Tori Chaz (who lived to be 21 years and 10 months old) who stayed by Sally’s side and rode on her wheelchair.

Sally was a deep and free thinker and amazing problem solver all of her life. She was open to new ideas and various philosophies. She believed in self responsibility and acting with integrity, honesty and compassion. She was adored by her family and friends and was their true HERO due to her strength, courage, perseverance, and her caring and love of others. 

Sally is survived by her sisters, Georgia (Glade) Rawlings, Smithfield, UT, and Louisa Jean Ingalls, Holladay, UT, along with her sister-in-law, Janice McEntire Ingalls, Farr West, UT. Her nieces and nephews include: Paula Tripodi, NM; Greg (Jeanette) Ingalls, CA; Tony (Stephanie) Ingalls, CA; Lisa (Mark) Henderson, OR; Renee (Cliff) Broyles, CO; Phillip (Jordan) Rawlings, UT; Diana (Joe) Ribera, UT; Jeanette (Darren) Johnson, UT; Braden Hoth, UT; Ruthann (Aaron) Wadsworth, CA; Emily (Johnny) Walker, WY, and Janet (Paul) Moser, ID. She was preceded in death by her parents, George and Evelyn Ingalls, brother Ronald Ingalls, sister, Marilyn Smith, niece Karen Hoth, and many cousins.

The family wishes to extend its deepest thanks to the brilliant Dr. Marshall Smith, MD, of the University of Utah Department of Neurology; Dr. John Dietlein, MD, Sally’s homecare doctor; Dr. Steven Crandall, Ph.D., her master physical therapist from Hand and Ortho; Solstice Home Health & Hospice, especially her dedicated nurse, Shaun Boyle. During the years of her disability, she had compassionate caregivers, including: Ashlie Bennett, Elisa Clawson, Rian Taveras, Natalie Kuhn, Nikki Nielsen, and many others, plus help from wonderful care companies Right at Home, Home Instead, and Brightstar. Sally’s devoted friends often visited her to brighten her days: Linda Nicholes, Andrea Globokar, Steven Crandall, Camille Pierce, Dorothee Serpas, Tracine Smoot, Julie Cummings, Judy Vance, and Carlisle Hunsaker as well as remarkable neighbors Carolyn Duggins and Rebecca Duncan.

A visitation will be on Friday, January, 6, 2022 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at Starks Funeral Parlor. Funeral service will be on Saturday, January, 7, 2022, at 11:00 AM at Starks Funeral Parlor. Interment to follow at Huntsville City Cemetery, 5600 E 100 S, Huntsville, UT, where she will be laid to rest alongside seven generations of her family.

We all bid farewell and God’s speed to Sally, the light of our lives. As the beautiful poem by Robert Frost says, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 South 900 East, Salt Lake City, UT. Guests are encouraged to use the parking and entrance on the north side of the building.