Sally grew up with a life of privilege living on High Point Drive in Peoria. Her father was a doctor and her mom was a socialite.
She wanted for nothing. Her pony, Chester, gave her many happy trails around Peoria. He was boarded near North University Avenue and Sally could be seen riding him against the high white fences there. She usually rode in the late afternoons after her classes at the Academy of Our Lady ended.
Sally was not a particularly pretty teen, but she had personality. No one made a fool of her. She bought her clothes at Schradzki’s in downtown Peoria. Never on sale. If she saw a dress, or coat, or hat, she liked, she could buy it. She knew her weekly allowance would cover it.
Because of her status as a doctor’s daughter, she had many beaux. Some desirable, but most were not. Her father saw to that and dissuaded many young men to keep walking away. His daughter would make a proper marriage to a well-bred man.
She began to see Scott every weekend and they would enjoy the Spalding High School games at the Center, or the football games. He was a gentleman and suitably dressed for any occasion. He was clean shaven just as she insisted. He did not smoke, or drink beer, which some others did.
Sally introduced him to her parents and he was invited to her family occasions. He was graduated from Spalding and went to the University of Illinois to study, what else, medicine. Sally attended Illinois State University (ISU) and they drifted apart. That was all right with her because he had begun to annoy her.
Sally’s attention span was short and if a suitor exhibited any trait she found objectionable, he was history She dropped one young man because he used poor English. Another was gone because he declared himself an atheist. Another had such poor table manners, Sally could not stand to eat near him.
Sally was graduated from ISU with a degree in pharmacy and decided to spend the following year travelling. She boarded the catamaran at Calais and went into Paris by train. An overnight train took her to Pisa. To Zurich, Vienna, Stockholm, and back to London.
She decided to return on the Queen Mary and met a desirable man on board. They kept in contact for a while, but he resided in Chicago so it was not meant to be. Several years later, Sally became a Peoria wife who did as she pleased and her husband took care of all the expenses.
Her life had come full circle from a spoiled doctor’s daughter to a spoiled Peoria wife. She got what she wanted when she wanted it. There were season tickets to the Peoria Symphony and to the gallery openings at Lakeview Center. She had Bridge games with afternoon tea and picnics at Grand View Drive. Her husband’s money supported the Peoria Zoo, the arts in Peoria and the hospital auxiliaries.
As the years went by, Sally did enormous good works in the Peoria area and those included the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the garden societies, and the Neighborhood House. She was generous with her husband’s money to those she felt needed a helping hand. She donated her last year’s clothes to the missions.
After her untimely death, her husband donated a wing at St. Francis Hospital in her memory. Sally lives on by his endowments to Peoria area organizations and because of her generous and good works. The little girl of High Point Drive rests peacefully at St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Her funeral mass was concelebrated by the Bishop and the priests from St. Thomas Church. Her death was front-page news in the Peoria Journal Star.
Requiescat et Pace.