Sara Whitlock Lawson, our dear mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed into the presence of her Savior and Lord on October 10, 2019, at Granite Bay Country house while surrounded by her family. She was greatly loved and will be sorely missed.
Sara was the matriarch of the family, a true example of Christ-like love, compassion, childlike faith, and a joyful heart. She personified all the attributes of a stately woman, yet could be the life of the party as well.
Sara was born June 6, 1934, in Peking, China, (now Beijing) to Dr. and Mrs. H.H. Whitlock, medical missionaries with the Presbyterian Church. She lived in China for the first seven years of her life and Mandarin was her first language.
After returning to the US with her mother Edna, and her brother John, they waited nearly four years to be reunited with her father, Horace, who was imprisoned by the Japanese after they occupied China during WWII.
Sara spent the rest of her adolescent years living in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she graduated from Northeast High School in 1952. She met her future husband Robert during her senior year in high school. He was attending Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln at the time. Sara later attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and graduated with a degree in nursing.
Sara and Robert were married on March 25, 1956, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Although they lived all over the country during Robert’s early years with GE, they finally settled in Fair Oaks, California, until Robert’s retirement, when they moved to Vashon Island, Washington, enjoying most of their later years together in the beauty of the Puget Sound around family and friends.
Sara was preceded in death by Robert on December 20, 2017. She was also preceded by her parents, her brother John and his wife Ina. She is survived by her four children and their spouses: Annie and Richard Stivers, Gregg and Lynn Lawson, Jean and Darren Dodge, and Tricia and Kenny Snyder. She is also survived by 15 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
There will be a celebration-of-life service in Vashon, Washington, on what would have been her and Robert’s 64th wedding anniversary, March 25, 2020.
“We will miss you Mama, but we are so happy you are home with Jesus and Dad and all who have gone on before!’
