Sarah was born Oct. 22, 1904, in Ishpeming, the daughter of proud Cornish immigrant parents Richard Bottrell and Catherine Jones. She had older twin brothers, Harry and Thomas, although Thomas died from polio when Sarah was a baby. Speaking of her childhood, she said “But I must’ve had it easy, because I never went without nice clothes or food all the time. I just don’t have any memory. I must’ve had a good mother to do all those things for us.”

After Sarah graduated from Ishpeming High School in 1922, her family moved to Marquette where she enrolled at Northern Normal. She would call that house at 1240 N. Third St. home for the rest of her life. One of Sarah’s claims to fame was that she was a registered voter in the city of Marquette, at that address from 1923 to 2010!

Even though most of the students lived in boarding houses in town, Sarah described the Northern she attended as being a smaller, more pleasant institution compared to the modern university. “There was a togetherness to it. You can’t have that now, when we spread out in large numbers. It’s colder.”

When Sarah completed her three-year teaching course, she went to Newberry in 1925 where she taught history and geography at the junior high school for four years. During the summers, she would return to Marquette to take additional classes, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. Sarah worked in the Newberry Public Schools for 27 years. During the school year, Sarah and the other teachers would board with local families.

While Sarah was teaching in Newberry, the Great Depression hit. In an oral history interview, she described “The teachers, you know, how [some] people you like better than others. We would, after school, go down to the corner drug store, just relax, and just have a cup of coffee or a dish of ice cream. Just like half an hour before you’d go home, you know?

“Our superintendent asked us, would we not please do that, because there were people passing who were out of work, and it looked like we were rich. We spent a nickel for a Coke. So, we obeyed. Isn’t that something, though? That was a recommendation of the superintendent, please not do it.

“So, then we used to go over one or the other of the houses after. One time we were having so much fun, we were playing the piano and singing and stuff. The door opened, and it was one of the teachers — it was a married teacher — it was her husband, coming home from work. It was six o’clock already. He was a comical nature, anyway. He looked us all over, and he said to his life, “Viola, are they still here?” [laughter] You can imagine how we got our coats and we beat it. That was cute, I’ll never forget it.”

The Depression had other effects on life. Sarah reported that she had $100 in her account when the bank in Newberry closed. When it reopened three years later, all she got was a bank certificate for $85.

Shortly after coming home for Thanksgiving in 1952 or 53, Sarah had to break her contract and give up teaching in Newberry when her mother had her second leg amputated due to diabetes. She cared for her mother for the rest of the school year and in September 1954 she was able to get a job teaching at Graveraet High School in Marquette.

She taught in the Marquette Public Schools for 16 years until her retirement in 1970. Many of her students remembered her as a teacher infused with old-fashioned values who could teach well and who brooked no nonsense in the classroom. She knew U.S. History and taught it with passion and purpose. She had a love of learning and desired to give that gift to all her students.

After her retirement, Sarah remained active member of the First United Methodist Church until the very end of her life. She belonged with the United Methodist Women, the History and Records Committee and was especially involved with the music ministry. She last sang with the sanctuary choir on September 19, 2010, just a month before her 106th birthday.

Once asked the secret to her longevity, she credited her good health, in part, to moderate living and never smoking, also commenting “I don’t know what all the fuss is about.” Although at another point, she commented on her advanced age “I think it’s kind of disgusting. I don’t want to be that old!” Sarah died on Feb. 23, 2011, at the age of 106.