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IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Sarah Elizabeth

Sarah Elizabeth Willis Profile Photo

Willis

May 30, 1918 – February 5, 2023

Obituary

Sarah Elizabeth Willis (nee Eigo), 104, was called home on Sunday—God's day—February 5, 2023, in
Haverford, PA. She was born on May 30, 1918, in Mount Holly, NJ, to the late James and Cherry
Applegate Eigo.
Sarah was predeceased by her siblings, Bill (Margret), Matt (Edna), Margaret, and Fr. Francis "Frank"
Eigo, O.S.A., and her husband of sixty years, Russell Garrison Willis. She is survived by her daughter Joan
Willis Green, her granddaughters Pamela Green Perini (Dan Miller) and Kelly Green Yoh (Bill), their
father Robert Green, her great grandchildren, Michael, Will, Colby, and Russell, and a host of nieces and
nephews. She was called Mother, Grandmom, Gram, Aunt Sarah, and GiGi.
Sarah attended Mount Holly High School. Her family moved to Camden, where she worked for RCA and
Campbell's Soup. She and Russ were married in 1939. Sarah raised Joan alone in Joan's early years while
Russ was overseas during World War II. The family remained in Camden until 1959, when they moved to
Merchantville, NJ, where Russ continued his career as a United States Letter Carrier until his retirement
in 1971.
The consummate modern woman, Sarah was a devout wife and mother, serving as Joan's elementary
school PTA president, and she was a career professional. Ever in fashion, Sarah could always be found in
a stylish skirt, jacket, turtleneck, high heels, pink lipstick, and pearls. She spent much of her working life
as a restaurant and dining room hostess, including at the Adelphia Hotel in Philadelphia, the Walt
Whitman Hotel and Kenny's Bridge Café in Camden, and The Pub in Pennsauken. She was also a long-
time medical assistant. Sarah could out-dance anyone and had a pitch perfect singing voice. In her later
years you could find her dancing with her walker and singing "On the Way to Cape May."
Sarah and Russ eventually settled in Cape May County, NJ, where they lived until the mid-1990s. A
frequenter of 96th Street in Stone Harbor, Sarah was at her happiest strolling from store to store, making
fast friends with merchants and fellow shoppers, and buying clothing and ice cream for her
granddaughters.
Her love of shopping spanned to shopping malls, where she was quick to meet people and hear their
stories. She always said that everyone is going through something and everyone's story deserves to be
heard. Ever the devoted chauffeur, Russ was a constant and patient fixture on mall benches or in the car,
modeling the phrase "waiting on a woman" long before it was put to song. Sarah made a point to learn
the names of employees at her local supermarkets and restaurants and routinely had $1's and $5's at the
ready to tip the kind staff members.
In a life that spanned not one but two global pandemics, Sarah was born during the Spanish Flu and also
beat Covid-19 . . . twice. She led a clean life, routinely reminding others that she never smoked or drank
a drop of alcohol. A lifelong devout Catholic, one of her proudest moments was seeing her baby brother,
Frank, ordained as an Augustinian priest.
Sarah knew how to live. She loved to make people laugh and to laugh at herself. She believed that
kindness and forgiveness matter more than anything else. The role of grandmother was particularly
ingrained in her heart, so much so that many of her care providers at Sunrise of Haverford, where she
​spent the final years of her life, called her "Grandmom." Her most notable catch phrase was, "Love ya!
Love ya! Love ya!" And to know Sarah was to love her.
Sarah passed just a few months short of her 105th birthday and is now reunited with Russ and her
siblings. She is surely singing and dancing, making friends with everyone she meets, and looking down
on us with endless love.
Family and friends are invited on Tuesday February 14th (fittingly a day to celebrate love; consider wearing a
splash of pink or red) to a Visitation at 11:00 am followed by a Funeral Mass at 12:00 pm at St. Thomas
of Villanova Church, on the campus of Villanova University, 800 E. Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA.
Interment will be in New Jersey at a later date. For those unable to attend the Funeral Mass it will be livestreamed at:
In lieu of flowers, Sarah was known to literally give people the coat off her back, so kindly drop off a
spare winter coat at Sunrise of Haverford (217 W. Montgomery Ave., Haverford PA), or bring one to the service,
or donate one to a shelter or donation center near you.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Sarah Elizabeth Willis, please visit our flower store.

Funeral Services

Visitation

February
14

St. Thomas of Villanova Church on University Campus

800 East Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Funeral Mass

February
14

St. Thomas of Villanova Church on University Campus

800 East Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085

Starts at 12:00 pm

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