UNION, WV ---Sara (Sally) Louise Alm was born December 3, 1921, at home in Triadelphia, West Virginia. She loved sports from a young age, playing tennis with her three older brothers on a court they made in the yard of their parents' dairy farm. A lifelong Presbyterian, she won a scholarship to Monmouth College in Illinois, where she studied English, Spanish, and physical education and spent her free time shooting baskets in her dorm gym. At Monmouth, she met Robert (Bob) Alm and they were married by candlelight in Roneys Point in 1944. Bob joined the war effort and was learning to fly when their first child, David, was born. They had two more children, Kathy and Jim, while Bob earned his doctorate in chemistry at Ohio State and began working at Standard Oil. The family settled for many years in Crown Point, Indiana, where they were deeply involved with church, scouting, and the high school marching band. A resourceful homemaker, Sally gardened, sewed, planned summer camping trips to most of the 50 states, and listened to Chicago Cubs baseball games on WGN. Sally and Bob later moved to Wheaton, Illinois and remained active in church, folk crafts, gardening, and baseball.
In 1966, they bought a homestead on the Knobs outside Union and spent many summers renovating it themselves, fulfilling Sally's dream of returning to West Virginia. They were active in community service, including the annual hawk counts on Peter's Mountain. In 1993, they moved permanently to the Knobs and, after Bob's death in 1997, Sally maintained her mountain home for over 20 more years with the help of her trusted riding lawn mower. Sally welcomed friends and family from all over, who mixed easily into holiday celebrations, especially the family's traditional July 4th reunion. She was thrilled to finally see the Cubs win the World Series in 2016 and enjoyed the view from her picture window every day. Sally was loving, generous, determined, and ever-girlish in spirit. She formed deep friendships with people of all ages and will be greatly missed. Sally is preceded by her beloved husband Bob and two children, Dave Alm and Kathy Disrud. She is survived by her son Jim Alm and his wife Janet Johnson, their two daughters Natalie Alm (and husband Ben Chartoff) and Hailey Alm (and fiancé Paul Rubino); daughter-in-law Susan Alm; and son-in-law Trenton Disrud, his daughter Rebecca Disrud (and husband Jason Lindquist), and two great-grandchildren, Sam and Calvin Lindquist.
A memorial service will be held March 17, 2018 at 11:00 am in the Union Presbyterian Church with visitation preceding at 10:00 am. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorials in support of the Monroe County Education Foundation at P.O. Box 90, Union, WV 24983. Those wishing to send the family online condolences or sign the online guestbook may do so by visiting www.grovesfuneralhome.com Groves Funeral Home in Union, WV is in charge of arrangements.