Sally Carlson Sept. 30, 1943 – Jan. 10, 2015

Published 8:40 am Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Sally Carlson, 71, of Wallowa, died Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, after a battle with lung cancer. There will be a memorial for Sally sometime this spring. Details will follow.

Sally was born in Enterprise Sept. 30, 1943, to Robert and Mildred McAnulty. Sally attended elementary school and two years of high school in Springfield. The McAnulty family moved to Prineville in 1959 where Sally attended Crook County High School, graduating in 1961. Sally attended the University of Oregon for a year before moving to Roseburg to join her “Vernon” family and work in the assessor’s office. She and her close friend Elaine Bails moved to Los Angeles in 1966 where she worked for an insurance company. Sally and Elaine moved to Seattle in 1968 where Sally worked at the U of W. In 1969 Sally moved back to Springfield where she worked for the Department of Human Resources and met her husband-to-be Ken Carlson.

Ken and Sally were married Dec. 24, 1973. After completing his education at Oregon State University, Ken and Sally moved to Los Angeles where Sally attended Long Beach State University, majoring in Social Work. Sally graduated with honors and was the top student in the college of Humanities and Social Sciences. In 1980 Ken and Sally moved to Seattle, where Sally earned her Masters in Social Work at the University of Washington.

Sally loved school. But instead of becoming a professional student she became a professional social worker working for a number of mental health organizations before forming her own business offering employee assistance programs to companies. After Ken retired, Ken and Sally moved to Wallowa in 2003 to care for Sally’s mother. Sally volunteered at the Nez Perce Homeland Project. Sally was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010 and moved to Wildflower Lodge’s memory care unit in 2012.

While in Seattle, Sally spent summer vacations working on a cook crew for high mountain camps in the Canadian Rockies. Christmas was a special time. Sally loved to host and would celebrate the holiday with many parties. She made her home a Christmas fairyland with unique decorations.

Sally’s second love was reading. She had read every book in the Springfield Public Library before she entered junior high. In her heyday she could read a book a day. When Sally tired of social work she got a job at a bookstore. It was her ideal job.

Sally is survived by her husband Ken of 41 years, her brother Mike McAnulty of Springfield, and one sister and five brothers of the Vernon family into which Sally was adopted.

Sally’s survivors are grateful to the staff at Wildflower Lodge in La Grande, who treated Sally with love and the utmost respect during her last years.