Sarah Louise Koether

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Koether, Sarah Louise (Jones) age 93, died peacefully Sunday, September 28, in her residence at Crown Crest in Parker, Colorado. She was born Sarah Louise Jones in Minneapolis, Minnesota, eldest child of Jefferson Jones Sr. and Ruth (Gedney) Jones, eldest grandchild of Herschel V. Jones Sr., publisher of the Minneapolis Journal (Minneapolis StarTribune, today), rare-book and art collector whose acquisitions still form a notable core of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the most recent exhibition of which she attended in 2006. Prior to her father becoming Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of his father's newspaper, Jefferson Jones Sr. worked as a young field reporter for a Japanese newspaper -- the only American eyewitness to the siege of the German port of Tsingtau (Qingdao), China by Japan and Britain during World War I. His first-hand account was published upon return in 1915. AP and UPI Board member, he later purchased the Bozeman Chronicle, Bozeman, Montana. Her maternal grandfather, Isadore Valiere Gedney, was president of the M.A. Gedney Company (today, Gedney Foods Co.), founded by his father, Matthias Anderson Gedney in Minneapolis, 1880. Her maternal grandmother and namesake, Sarah Louise (Huntington) Gedney, was daughter of George Edward Huntington of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway (Soo Line). She was a confidant of her aunt, Tessie Jones of Newburgh, New York, as she planned what is still one of the largest bequests to the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, consisting of hundreds of manuscripts and first editions from William Blake to Jane Austen. Growing up in Hopkins, Minnesota, Sally attended Northrop Collegiate School (then sister-school to The Blake School) and graduated from University High School, Minneapolis, later attending the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul. She belonged to Alpha Phi Sorority, Epsilon Chapter. Immediately prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, she married John Douglas Arnot, a fellow student at the University of Minnesota. Within months, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and thereafter died from injuries sustained in the World War II Allied invasion of Normandy following D-Day. At the Minikahda Club, Minneapolis, the young widow and mother was introduced to one of several officers temporarily stationed in the city during World War II -- invited by club founder Clive T. Jaffray. Sarah Louise (Jones) Arnot married Herbert Franklin Koether in 1947. His father was first Director for Sales and Advertising under Alfred P. Sloan, General Motors Corporation, Detroit. The young couple moved variously from Minnepolis to Winnetka and Evanston, Illinois then to Cincinnati before settling in Denver, Colorado. While also temporarily stationed in Fort Collins, Colorado during World War II, Herb Koether noticed for the first time he was free of the sinus allergies he had endured elsewhere and vowed to return eventually to Colorado. Herb and Sally Koether moved to the Denver area in 1952, first living in Cherry Hills for two decades then unknowingly purchased the only Colorado home by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Country Club section downtown. She was a member of The Junior League of Denver, Christ Church Denver, and later St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the Baker Historic District and Church of the Ascension in Country Club. The Koethers were friends and colleagues, politically and socially, with many that transformed burgeoning Denver after World War II. To a planned ski area called Vail, they were on the first bus for potential investors (and declined) in 1961. However, the Vail connection was soon made indelible when Sally's picture was spread across most national newspapers as she tearfully embraced her newly-found nephew, Martin Koether of Chicago, for whom the ski trail "Lost Boy" is named. When 14 and visiting his aunt one spring vacation in 1964, he skied into Game Creek Bowl by mistake before it was developed. Using Boy Scout skills, he spent the night in a snow cave he built while rescuers searched the mountain in sub-freezing temperatures. Against all odds, he survived and the following day walked into the patrol shack and said "I'm the lost boy". Herb Koether, campaign chairman for presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, was traveling the state and arrived amidst the calamity. Herb Koether, who died in 2011 (age 98), was a manufacturer with sought-after business and fund-raising abilities and served on numerous Denver-area corporate, philanthropic and educational boards. Sally, known as much for her style and grace as for her good looks, dry wit and sense of humor, was involved socially in supporting all of them. Of all shared accomplishments, they were most proud of Herb's 58 years of continual service on the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army, Denver where he guided numerous strategic real estate moves for the organization, greatly ensuring its stability. In a book prepared for one of her granddaughters, "Grandmother Remembers", Sally Koether revealingly listed the following as her favorites: "Radio Program -- Eddie Cantor; Season -- Summer and Christmas; Vacation Spot -- Our summer home at "Woman's Lake" near Walker, Minn; Holiday - Christmas; Flower -Tropicana Rose; Color - Yellow; Sport - Golf; Food - Hamburger; Subject in School -- Math and Art." If there were another opportunity to list Christmas, she would have. Sarah Louise (Jones) Koether is survived by her younger brother and sole surviving sibling, Jefferson Jones Jr., of Columbia Falls, Montana. Her sister, Elizabeth Wilcox (Jones) Kucera, and brother, Herschel V. Jones II, predeceased her. She is also survived by four sons, Douglas Jefferson Arnot of Denver, Frederick Gustave Koether of Longmont, Colorado, James Huntington Koether of Roseville, California and Philip Hathaway Koether of New York City, her daughter Sarah Louise (Koether) Patterson of Centennial, Colorado as well as eight grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, one first-cousin, Frances (Leslie) Siftar of Minneapolis, and many nieces, nephews and friends. Private inurnment according to her wishes will be at Fairmount Mausoleum, Denver. Contributions in her honor, greatly appreciated, may be directed to The Salvation Army Intermountain Division, c/o The Herbert F. & Sarah L. Koether Memorial Fund, 1370 Pennsylvania Street, Denver, CO 80203.

Published on October 5, 2014