Sarah Y. Perry

Sarah Yvonne Perry

Date of Birth: 18 August 1956
Place of Birth: Loma Linda Hospital, California
Date of Death: 15 November 2021


Sarah Yvonne Perry, age 65, passed away at Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana on 15 November 2021 after succumbing to a battle with Covid-related challenges and ultimately respiratory failure.

Sarah was originally from Southern California where she was born and raised alongside her brothers and sisters and attended Colton High School before welcoming her son into the world in 1975 to navigate life together.

A few years later, she met a young airman stationed at Norton Airbase named Glen L. Perry, whom she married and moved with to Montana to begin her new life in the Bitterroot Valley.

In 1984, Sarah and Glen had a beautiful daughter named Michelle who also received the middle name “Robin” due to her being born on the first day of spring.

During these early years, Sarah began working at the Florence-Carlton School in the lunch program and has been part of the Florence Carlton Family until her retirement in October of 2019. Officially, she worked in a myriad of positions to include a cafeteria worker, classroom aid, copy room manager, and ticket-taker for Florence Carlton’s high school basketball, football, and volleyball games.

Unofficially, Sarah was a counselor, confidant, mentor, friend, and cared for everyone as a mother would, willing to go to any length for anyone in need, as if they were her own children and family. For over 30+ years, Sarah dedicated herself to nurturing a legacy with countless generations of students that entered and exited Florence Carlton. To this day, former students that now include grandparents, parents, children, and current students are among her most treasured and beloved people in her world.

Sarah’s life away from work at the school was dedicated to three things: being spontaneous, throwing caution to the wind and always having faith that everything will work out. I was recently told that the word “invincible” came to mind when they thought of Sarah. That she was the master of just making it happen, or at least getting people to genuinely believe, that in fact, all will be okay. As part of her care-free passions, she adored road trips where there may or may not have been an intended destination. The ride itself, often with her granddaughter, was where the love and fun thrived the most. To a rich person, money may define the quality of the simplest of mini adventures. For our mom, money, and certain lack of it, was never something that was going to stand in the way, and she simply had Faith that it would all work out.
For All Its worTH

Sarah’s other desires in life revolved around dropping a $5 in the machines to win, lose or draw, often enjoyed in the company of her younger sister Patsy. This activity would be impossible without a Coors Light in hand!

As we write this and do our best to capture the entirety of our mom’s life, we quickly realize the impossibility of this feat. We know her little selfless subtleties, like the way she cooked and refused to eat until everyone had their plates. Or the impossible amount of pride she had simply sitting on a park swing watching her children playing with her grandchildren. Whether you’ve known her for years, or were the new kid at school, you were going to receive that smile that lit up the room and hear her laugh miles away. Sarah’s superpower was making everyone around her feel at ease, welcomed and loved.

There is no way we could ever capture the totality of who she was and how much she meant to so many. If fact, if you are reading this, I guarantee one or a dozen times quickly comes to mind where you heard Sarah, was comforted by Sarah, or simply lucky enough to be in her presence and know this beautiful woman.

Sarah loved to travel outside of Montana taking every advantage of her son’s duty stations to spend time with her grandkids. Trips took her to Idaho, Washington, North Carolina, Texas, and Hawaii. In the past year, her granddaughter Naydeen became her travel buddy for trips to Washington and anywhere else in and around Montana she just got the itch to go see. Locally, she loved to go spend the day going up Highway 12 to take in a breathtaking Montana sunset at her daughter and son-in-law’s home.

Sarah was preceded in death by her parents Vicki Robledo and Joe Ortega, a sister Patsy Ortega, a nephew Patrick Ortega and a half-brother Tinker Ortega.

She is survived by her son Valente Isaac Perry and his three children: Jaiden, Audra and Benjamin; her daughter Michelle Robin Moss and her husband Sean and their daughter Naydeen; her sister Jackie Lambert and three Ortega brothers Eugene, Gary and Ray; and 43 nieces and nephews.