Sarah was an artist, showing talent at a young age: When she was 10 years old, in 1992, she received this necklace in recognition of her submission to the International Children’s Art Exhibition. She continued to create beautiful art, including numerous portraits of friends and family. Her self-portrait, created just before her death, is on the #kindnessforsassy card.
We chose to share a small version of her self-portrait as well the necklace that she earned. In her memory, our family now does random acts of kindness because she was generous, kind and forgiving.
The night that Sarah told her abusive husband that she was leaving, he used his personal handgun to shoot her through the throat and the shoulder. He then turned the gun to his own head and died immediately by a self-inflicted gunshot. Sarah lingered in the ICU for several days, unable to move, speak or breathe on her own. Her death at the hands of a violent man who should not have been able to own a gun has led our family to activism around the issue of gun violence prevention.