Sally (Sara Mae) Maxon Harris

Sally (Sara Mae) Maxon Harris, 86, went home to the Lord on December 21, 2020, at Park Manor in Walla Walla, Washington. She was born February 23, 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Dr. Arthur Sherman Maxon and Dorothy Crippen Maxon. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Trinity Baptist Church, 595 Abbott Road, Walla Walla on Friday, January 8, 2021 at 2:00 p.m., Pastor Kris Harrison, officiating (Covid -19 protocols will be followed, including limited seating, social distancing, and masks; and the service will also be live-streamed on the church’s Youtube channel, Trinity Walla Walla). At the family’s request, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the charity of your choice. A private graveside service for the family will be held at another time, where Sally will be interned, at Mountain View Cemetery, 2120 S 2nd Ave, in Walla Walla, Rev. Dan Harris, officiating.

In 1936, the family moved to Iowa City, Iowa to live with Dr. Maxon’s mother, Sara Sherman, and her husband, Grant Wood, the artist, while Dr. Maxon finished a master’s degree, and taught at the University of Iowa Dental School.  Grant Wood used Dorothy and Sherm as models in illustrations of “The Perfectionist” and “The Radical” for a limited edition of Sinclair Lewis’ book, “Main Street”. Grant enjoyed having a grandchild in the home at 1142 East Court Street in Iowa City. Sally’s growth was recorded at the top of the cellar stairs, and Grant produced a lithograph dedicated to her for her sixth birthday, titled “a self portrait” (a rendering of a frog and fly on a rock similar to his lithograph “Wild Flowers”. Sally enjoyed nursery school (Mrs. Klingeman’s) and an experimental preschool in the University of Iowa’s education department headed by Dr. George Stoddard, a family friend.

In February 1941 Dr. Maxon joined the U.S. Army as part of the dental staff at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and the family lived in officers’ quarters on the Hospital grounds. Major Maxon was transferred to McCaw Army Hospital in Walla Walla, Washington in February, 1943. The family settled here, Dr. Maxon establishing an orthodontic practice. Sally attended Green Park Elementary School and Walla Walla High School. She was a good student and was well liked by her peers and teachers, being voted president of the girls’ student body in her senior year. She was selected to attend Girls’ State and Girls’ Nation in 1951. She graduated from high school in 1952. She was also active in Walla Walla’s Little Theatre. She attended Whitman College and the University of Washington.

On March 22, 1954, Sally and R. Everett Harris were married in the Veterans Hospital Chapel in Walla Walla. On April 12, 1957, they had a son, Daniel Maxon Harris, and the family moved to Anchorage, Alaska after Mr. Harris’ graduation from the University of Washington Law School. She was active in the Anchorage little Theatre, playing the leads in “Brigadoon” and “Look Back in Anger”. She and Mr. Harris divorced in Anchorage and Sally moved to a cabin on the Kenai Peninsula near Hope, Alaska. After an unsuccessful marriage to Donald K. Porter, she eventually returned to the state of Washington.

Sally worked for lawyers in Seattle and went back to finish college at the University of Washington, graduating in 1967 with an undergraduate degree and elementary teaching certificate and a double master’s degree in speech/language pathology and audiology. She worked as a language therapist for the Shoreline School District for two years. Her son’s grandparents, Margaret Still and Roy E. Harris, Anacortes, Washington, raised him during those schooling years in a loving, stable home life that included boating in the San Juan Islands, and visiting his father in Anchorage in summers. In 1969, Sally married Eugene A. Stende in Snohomish, Washington. They divorced in 1972 and Sally moved back to Walla Walla in 1974. On November 13, 1974 she was born again as a follower of Jesus Christ, a life-changing event, and joyfully celebrated every day for the rest of her life. In 1976 she moved to Ventura, California, working in advertising for Vetco Offshore, Inc., and for the County of Ventura. In January 1995, Sally returned to Walla Walla to take care of her widowed mother in her mother’s home.

Sally temporarily leaves behind beloved family members: her son Dan, a pastor for the Lord, his wife, Trudy Harris, and their two married daughters, Pamela and her husband, Andrew Burleson and their three daughters, Zora, Sara, and Kira, and Sandi and her husband, Andrew Zaragoza, and their daughter and son, Sally, and Roy; her brother, J. Stephen Knapp and his wife, Elaine Logan Knapp and their two sons, Jon S. Knapp Jr. and Garth M. Knapp; her brother-in-law Glenn Fong and her niece and nephew, Julie A. Fong, and Gregory Fong. She was preceded in death by her father, Dr. Sherm Maxon, her mother, Dorothy Knapp Siegel, and sister, Meg (Helen) Maxon Fong.

Family and friends may share memories and sign her on-line guest book at www.herringgroseclose.com