Sarah Amandus

Sarah J, (Morton) Amandus, 89, passed away Friday, December 15, 2023, at Regency Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center of Jefferson.

Memorial services will be 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 19, 2023, at United Methodist Church, Gowrie with Pastor Susan Rohden officiating. Burial will be in Gowrie Township Cemetery. A visitation will be 10:00 Tuesday until service time. Palmer Funeral Home Gowrie is serving the family Memorials may be left to American Legion Auxiliary Peterson Post #431 of Gowrie.

Sarah Jane (Sally) Roche, daughter of Dr. J. R. and Ruth Roche, was born May 22, 1934, in Lake City, Iowa. The oldest of four siblings, Sally was raised in Gowrie, Iowa, graduating from Gowrie High School in 1952. An avid sports fan, she was proud to have played six-on-six basketball throughout her high school years and to have kept the scorebook for her dad’s Legion baseball teams. Sally earned her teaching certificate from Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI) and taught at Humboldt and Callender. Her father, a proud WWI veteran, enrolled her as a member of the junior auxiliary on the day she was born, and Sally was a lifelong member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Peterson Post #431.

In 1956, Sally was united in marriage to John Morton at the Methodist Church in Vincent, Iowa. The couple first lived in Colorado, where John was stationed in the U.S. Army, then returned to Gowrie to live and raise their children, Rochelle and Scott. Once her children were in school, Sally taught reading at Prairie Community Junior High School and adult education classes in knitting. For nearly two decades, Sally supported John’s business, Morton Farm Service. Sally and John were very active in the Gowrie Methodist Church, Gideons International and the greater Gowrie community until John’s death in 1974.

In 1977, Sally married Don Hildreth, and the couple farmed near Jefferson until Don passed away in 1980.

In 1985, Sally returned to college, earning a degree from Iowa State University’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Following graduation, she worked in the insurance industry. In 1989, Sally moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she taught pre-school for several years. Sally married Dean Amandus in 1999, shortly before his death.

Sally moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, in 2007 to live near her son Scott and his family and then moved with them to Jefferson, Iowa, in 2019. Sally resided at The Gardens Assisted Living Community in Jefferson and later at Regency Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of Jefferson.

Left to cherish her memory are her children, Rochelle and husband Mike Hale, and Scott Morton and wife Veronica; grandchildren John Rohden (Ashley), Leah Richardson (Chase), Cara Scholl (Andy), Jessica Morton, Jonathon Morton (Amanda), and Cayla Andersen (Ryan); great grandchildren Scott and Ava Rohden, Oliver Richardson, and Jackson and Lena Scholl; siblings Jack Roche (Cindy) and Geri Howe (Wayne), and brother-in-law Herbert Johnson; nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends accumulated over a lifetime.

Sally was preceded in death by her parents and sister Patricia Johnson.

Sally’s family would like to thank the staffs of The Gardens, Regency Park and UnityPoint Hospice for their loving care.