Sarah Caroline Andrews

Individual Facts: Birth: 16 Jul 1937 in Decatur, Macon Co, IL

Marriage: Philip Robert NEELY, 10 Mar 1957 in Decatur, IL (age 19). Divorced

Children: Jill Ellen (13 Dec 1958-); Matthew Philip (21 Mar 1960-); Lois Lynne (26 Jun 1961-)

Growing up, sandwiched in the middle between two brothers, afforded me many challenges and helped build skills to cope with life in later years. I attended schools in Decatur Illinois, included Garfield, Pugh, Roosevelt Jr. High, Decatur High School and Millikin University.

Marriage to Philip Robert Neely, whom I met at Millikin, took place March 10, 1957. We operated and maintained a 360 acre grain and dairy farm near Pecatonica IL for the next 10 years . Our children, Jill, Matt and Lois, were born there during this time. Following a vacation to the lovely Northwest part of our country, we packed up, lot, stock, and barrel, and moved to Oregon.

Two years were spent living near Lebanon OR, then the next 22 years on farms around the Jefferson area. Along with being a wife and mother, and teaching piano and swimming lessons, volunteerism became an important part of my life. Church youth leader, Campfire and 4-H leader, school music program accompanist, church musician, and American Field Service program were some of the activities which kept me out of mischief while our kids were growing up. Our family hosted AFS students, Ulrike from Austria and Birgitta from Sweden, and the girls have become permanent members of our family. I enjoyed visiting them in their homes during September, 1996. Our own daughter, Jill, spent the year of 1975 in Argentina as an AFS student and returned home with an expanded vision of herself and the world.

In 1980, I was instrumental in forming the Jefferson Park District to protect and manage the local swimming pool that had been threatened with closure. In addition to administering the Park District, I managed the pool for six years.  By 1985, after a divorce and with the children grown, I saw a need to support myself in a style in which I’d like to become accustomed. At that point, I didn't feel that I had the skills needed to be marketable in the current job scene, so I started college again. I graduated with a BS in Business in 1988 at Western Oregon State College and found work in the Human Resource Department at Salem Hospital. Since then, I’ve been able to create my current position of Benefits Specialist, where I'm administering the insurance and retirement benefits programs for the hospital's 2700 employees. Rewarding and challenging work, requiring long hours, but I enjoy it very much. However, I'm looking forward to finding some time to work on the genealogy and trying to discover all the nuts on our family tree.