Lasting Memories

Sarah Henderson Wiehe
Oct. 29, 1949-Oct. 20, 2014
Palo Alto, California

Born in Cape Neddick, Maine on Oct. 29, 1949, Sarah Atwood Henderson Wiehe died from a heart attack on Oct. 20, 2014, while at her home in Palo Alto. Sarah was the daughter of artist and musician Elyot Henderson and community volunteer Sydney Elliot Henderson, and was raised with her elder brother Peter and younger sister Anne at their family's farmhouse in Cape Neddick, Maine. Sarah graduated with honors from York High School in 1967, proceeding to Goucher College, a women's college in Baltimore, Maryland.

While working on a theatrical co-production between Goucher College and Johns Hopkins University in the fall of 1967, Sarah met her future husband, Philip Wiehe. She graduated in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in music theory and composition. An accomplished musician, composer and arranger, she was proficient on piano, flute, piccolo, recorder and electric bass, and throughout her life maintained a keen ear that could discern nearly imperceptible variations in pitch and tempo. Married in 1970 and living in New Haven while Philip studied at Yale Divinity School, Sarah composed many short pieces for her church and local community, as well as a full-length rock opera that was performed across New England. In New Haven she also began a career as a registered nurse and later embarked with Philip on exotic travels to Fiji, Tahiti, Jamaica, Panama and New Zealand. Sarah and Philip twice crossed the USA by open Jeep -- often rising at 4 a.m. before it was too hot in the desert -- and sailed an Able 20 sloop along the New England and Southern California coasts, with their golden retriever aboard. Upon moving from the East Coast to Los Angeles in 1976, Sarah worked in pediatrics at Pacoima Hospital before moving to Palo Alto, where the light of her life, Kristin Elisabeth, was born in 1981. Sarah became an active single mom after she and Philip divorced, finding time to coach her daughter's softball team and serve as a frequent volunteer in her daughter's classrooms in Palo Alto.

In 2001, Sarah began enrichment studies at Foothill Community College. It was there that an astronomy class led to her participation for over a decade with the Peninsula Astronomical Society (PAS). As a student representative to the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees, Sarah was active in the expansion of the college's infrastructure, especially in conjunction with the activities at Foothill led by PAS. Starting in March of 2003, Sarah served for many years on the PAS Board of Directors, including several years as vice president of the Board and liaison with Foothill College. She was instrumental in working with the college during the transition to the new modern 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope now being used at the Foothill Observatory. The remake of the Board Room downstairs at Foothill Observatory, as well as the purchase of computers, eyepieces and the H-alpha Solar Telescope were very much due to her labors. Sarah adored astronomy and its ability to bring together people from disparate backgrounds: "From researcher to backyard observer, there is wonder beyond our horizons, if we just look!" Unfailingly quick-witted and passionate, Sarah's loves were music, flowers, sports, travel, art and astronomy, and most of all, her daughter Kristy. She was looking forward to attending the World Series on her 65th birthday (Oct. 29) with Kristy. Together, they were planning a trip this autumn to Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis and another trip to Italy at Easter to see the early Christian mosaics in Ravenna.

Sarah gained strength and acceptance through her abiding faith and from her church, St. Mark?s Episcopal, as well as from the communities of the Unity Community Church chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Peninsula Astronomical Society.