Sally Ann (Frame) Vander Leest, 63, of Spirit Lake, died unexpectedly Tuesday, May 26, 2015, at the Seton Hospital in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, from a brain injury resulting from a fall. Funeral service was Saturday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m. at the Good News Community Church, Okoboji, with interment following at Lakeview Gardens Cemetery in Spirit Lake
Sally Ann (Frame) Vander Leest was born Oct. 5, 1951, in Omaha, NE, to William and Frances Frame. She grew up in Council Bluffs and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1969. She attended the University of Iowa, Iowa City, where she earned a BS degree in chemistry and a BSN in nursing. Sally was united in marriage to David Michael Vander Leest on Aug. 18, 1973, in Council Bluffs. They were blessed with a son, Steven Paul, who was born Aug. 15, 1979.
Sally and Dave lived in several communities as Dave changed jobs from teaching school to managing a hardware store and then pastoring four congregations. They lived in Centerville; Iowa City; Holland, MI; Brookings, SD; Pekin, IL; Waterloo; Leota, MN; Stout; and finally in Spirit Lake since 2012. During those moves, Sally worked as an RN at Holland Hospital, Holland, MI, in labor and delivery; at Pine Rest Christian Psychiatric Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI, on the adolescent girls unit; at St. Francis Hospital, Peoria, IL, in neonatal intensive care; and at Allen Hospital, Waterloo, in the transitional nursery. While in Leota, MN, she worked in home health care and served as a volunteer EMT First Responder.
Sally was very active in each of the congregations Dave served as pastor: Normandale Reformed Church, Pekin, IL; Grace Reformed Church, Waterloo; Bethel Reformed Church, Leota, MN; and Reformed Church of Stout, Stout. She sang in their choirs and provided leadership and served as a teacher in Sunday School, VBS, and mid-week youth programs. She had a special interest in the “Young Children and Worship” programs she helped start and coordinate in three of the congregations as a mid-week ministry. She also served as an “unofficial parish nurse” in each congregation, providing counsel, encouragement, education, and referral as needed, and was a volunteer nurse for Church Summer Camps. Sally served in a variety of leadership roles in RCWM (Reformed Church Women’s Ministries) at the local and national levels.
Sally was a “crafter” with interests in cross-stitch, beading, sewing, quilting, jewelry-making, and scrapbooking. She was a member of EGA (Embroiderer’s Guild of America) in the Prairie Rose Chapter in Waterloo/Cedar Falls and in a stitching group called “Heart and Hand.”
Sally’s health began to decline in January 2009 from liver failure; she had a successful liver transplant in August 2010. Her health improved, but she continued to deal with the long term effects of diabetes. In the last few years, she struggled with failing eyesight, loss of strength and mobility, a painful condition called Dercum’s, and declining kidney function.
Since moving to Spirit Lake after Dave retired from full-time ministry, Sally has been active as a member of the Good News Community Church of Okoboji. She was involved in the Prayer Team Ministry, the Missional Community “Step in Faith,” and a Huddle Group. She also volunteered at the Spirit Lake Elementary School, most recently working with Mrs. Nebelsick’s first-grade class that Aliza was in.
Her greatest joy the past three years has been to spend time with her family, especially doing crafts with the grandkids, attending their programs, dance recitals, and sporting events, and baby-sitting as needed. In the past year, Sally was able to enjoy traveling with Dave in their motorhome (Winnie); made a trip to the Grand Canyon; and was enjoying a trip through the Canadian Rockies when she had the accidental fall that resulted in her death.
She is survived by her husband the Rev. David Vander Leest of Spirit Lake; son and daughter-in-law Dr. Steven and Dr. Tarra Vander Leest; and three grandchildren: Aliza Christine, Isabelle Anne, and Lane Michael; brother Bill (Gayle) Frame of Calliope, Queensland, Australia; sisters-in-law Judy Frame of Smithville, MO, and Dee Frame of Camdenton, MO.
She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers Richard W. Frame and John Frame.
