Sally Looms

OBITUARY

Sally Looms (Sara Oliver Black Looms) of New Mexico, formerly of Vail, CO, Denver, CO, and Corning, AR, passed away on Monday, June 15th, after a brief illness. She was 90. Sally was born in St. Louis, MO, to Sara Oliver Black and Lanie George Black. Sally attended Gulf Park Girls’ Preparatory School, Gulf Park Junior College and the University of Colorado at Boulder, earning a degree in Journalism in 1950. Upon graduation Sally moved to New York City to pursue a career in advertising. Always ahead of her time, she then spent a winter in Sun Valley, ID, as a “ski bum” before returning to Denver to further her advertising career. In 1953 Sally married Peter Looms. They settled in Englewood, CO, where Sally became and remained very active in local Republican politics. Once her children were all past elementary school she returned to the workforce, first as district manager of the 1970 census in Arapahoe County, CO, and then as President of Flowers a la Karte, a nation-wide purveyor of flowers in airports founded by her brother-in-law, Rex Morgan. Sally retired to Vail, CO, in 1982. In 1988 Sally and Peter moved to Taos where she became involved in several civic organizations. Throughout her life, Sally was an avid skier, and had a passion for cooking, hiking, backpacking, gardening and fishing. She was an ardent fan of the Denver Broncos, the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies. Her husband, Peter, preceded her in death. She is survived by daughters Nancy Ayres and Sara Fitch, son George Looms, sons-in-law Don Ayres and Bob Fitch, grandson Peter Kirk Fitch and grand daughter-in-law Hailey Kirk Fitch. She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Elizabeth Yates and Caroline Morgan, brothers “Leather” Black and John Oliver Black, and numerous beloved dogs. Donations in her memory may be made to your local animal rescue organization or the charity of your choice.

REMEMBERING MOM

It’s hard to know where to begin. But to start, we are very grateful that mom was able to enjoy the last couple of years of her life at The Rio Grande. Mom’s life in Taos had become rather isolated so it was wonderful to get her in an environment where she could reawaken, blossom and make new friends and become a part of a community, because Mom was a very social person. She enjoyed hearing people’s stories and sharing interests with them. She was also content to have time to herself working on her beloved Sudoku puzzles. George and I (Sara) talked about it a lot and we truly believe that mom was content and at peace at the time she passed away. On to Mom, her life, and a few of our memories…

From the stories that mom told us, it seems that she never felt bound by the norm and tradition. She wanted to see what the world had to offer and for her it wasn’t just “get married and raise a family.” But she did that and a whole lot more. Mom enjoyed cooking, sewing, ceramics, art, gardening, skiing, hiking, backpacking, fishing, entertaining, business, sports, POLITICS. Mom knew how to engage people; she particularly enjoyed talking with teenagers and young adults. She loved special occasions, cooking heart shaped pancakes on Valentines Day. She saw cooking and meals as way to gather, bond and celebrate, and passed that along to all three of her children. She was a mom with a career. And certainly mom ran a tight ship with chore lists as long as your arm!

From Nancy: I remember the interest Mom took in my history classes when I first started at Graland. Third grade was Mexico. My 9th birthday in 1963 was Mexican themed. I think we kept the placemats for years. They were cutouts of little gray burros with striped blankets and bridles. Fourth grade was Greece and she hosted the world’s first toga party! I don’t remember the whole menu, but it did include Ambrosia salad. Of course what we all remembered about her was how much she enjoyed entertaining, and she shared that sparkle and creativity with her children’s parties.

From Sara: I have one memory that exemplifies so many noteworthy talents and traits of mom’s. One summer when we were quite young she helped us discover several different cultures in such a creative way.   We looked through our encyclopedia and chose countries that were of interest to us. In addition to reading about the life in these countries, over the course of a week we made costumes from that country and developed a dinner menu for a traditional meal that mom cooked. I can’t recall what countries we discovered but I do remember how much fun it was to learn that way. Mom was curious and creative and she knew how to make the ordinary special and fun. We will miss Sally. But she lived a long full life and made our lives more fun and full.

From George: The summer I turned twenty-two I went on a two week back-packing trip in the Wind River mountains with my fifty year old mother. She was fit, being an avid hiker and I knew she possessed a highly advanced sense of adventure having had three children in four years. We went with a family of very close friends. The children of our friends were all outdoorspeople and, in fact, had all been instructors at the National Outdoor Leadership School.

We were to be on the trail for two weeks, with a reprovisioning at the end of the first week. Mom was a champ, she and I fished together and generally had a great time. When we got our second week’s supplies our food bags weighed about twenty pounds. Our leaders had thoughtfully planned a short walk that afternoon since we were all loaded down.

Off we went down the trail. After a couple of hours we stopped to make sure we were, literally, on the right track. We went on and after another hour we stopped again. This time our leaders were doubtful as to our path. They stood in a clearing and surveyed the peaks around us, looking at the map and back up at the surroundings. Mom was laboring under a full food bag and the failed expectation we would have arrived at our campsite. The leaders surveyed, Mom stewed. Finally, after several minutes of muted yet intense discussion amongst the leaders Mom walked over and took the map from them. She looked up, looked around and turned to the leaders (the family friend’s kids) and pointed to a peak,

   “That is here (pointing to a spot on the map), that is here and this is over there.” All the while referring to places on the map. Finally,

   “We are here, not there” with a final flourish.

The leaders huddled, looked at the map, looked up, looked at the map again and sheepishly announced,

   “She’s right...”

Thereupon we turned straight uphill and bushwhacked a grueling two miles and finally found our camp spot for the following night. I asked her how she learned to read a topographical map so well and she said,

   “At a white water canoeing camp when I was a girl” and promptly fell asleep.

The things we learn about our parents!

Excerpts from notes to George from his high school buddies 

I am so sorry for your loss.  Sally/Mom was an amazing woman and fortunate to have your loving support – especially through the challenges of these past few years.

Eggs Goldenrod!  One of my fondest memories of your mom was her preparing eggs goldenrod on Sunday morning when I’d stayed over at your house in 7th or 8th grade.  Being the Yankee I was, I had never met anyone from Arkansas and definitely had never had Eggs Goldenrod.  It was fantastic!  Your mom had class, she was forthright, well informed and had opinions that matched her wit.  She was graceful and had a good sense of humor to put up with all of our antics.  She also raised two incredibly talented daughters and son. 

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Ma Looms was always there for us. When we were in high school she always treated us as if we were adults, sharing conversations about art and politics and life. She had a spark along with that Southern charm. What a wonderful woman...

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Your mom was indeed incredibly patient with our crew through many years and many escapades. I always looked forward to seeing her. She was an awesome person and a wonderful parent. Parenting is really tough and really rewarding. It seemed to me like both your parents were so welcoming and listened to us and laughed with us. I think as a teacher I try to respect kids as people as much as I can and to not judge them too harshly but rather to celebrate the positive stuff that they bring into my life. I hope many of us can find the strength to exit this world as gracefully as your mom did. 

Listening to Pure Prairie League, shelling mixed nuts, tobogganing, sharing meals together, leaving my car in Vail for you to bring down after it was repaired, watching others get stoned at unbelievably early hours of the morning, New Year's Eve in town, waking up with a snoring bulldog in my face and of course the love and respect of your parents throughout all this. 

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Like everyone else, I have many memories of hanging at both your houses and always feeling welcome.  Few parents have a knack for treating teens like adults, but yours did.  Hopefully, you will have some time now to stand waist deep in cold water, trick trout into taking the flies and contemplate next steps.