Sally Ann Colburn

Sally Ann (Hayden) Colburn Sally Ann (Hayden) Colburn, age 91, passed away on August 30, 2023, just two weeks before her (and loving husband Jim's) 69th wedding anniversary. Preceded in death by parents Peter and Edna Hayden, and daughter, Michelle Colburn. Survived by husband, James Colburn; son, Mark (Nancy) Colburn; and two grandchildren, Sydney Colburn, and Zachary Colburn. Sally was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 11, 1932. She and her mother lived with her grandparents Hugo and Adelaide Wiegand, and aunt and uncle Delmar and Hildegard Cropenhoft. After four years, Sally and her mother moved to Eugene, Oregon, to be with Sally's father. Sally and Jim met in the Eugene High School Band. Sally graduated from the University of Oregon in June 1954 and married Jim on September 12, 1954. They moved to Corvallis, Oregon, where Jim completed his senior year at Oregon State College. After graduation, they moved to Schenectady, New York, and Jim began his career at General Electric in a work-study course called the GE Advanced Engineering Program. In November 1954 Jim left GE to begin his tour of duty with the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Sally and Jim lived in Little Silver, New Jersey, while Jim was in the basic officer's training course. Upon completion of the course Jim was sent to Japan to be a photo supply officer. They found an upstairs apartment in a nice Japanese house in Tokyo. A few months later Jim was transferred to a radio receiver site and Jim and Sally bought and moved into a cute little house at Camp Drake near Tokyo. Sally worked as a Department of Army Civilian for Regional Camp Tokyo supervising a group of Japanese office workers. Returning to the U.S. after 19 months service in Japan, Sally and Jim moved to Syracuse, New York. Jim returned to GE and continued the Advanced Engineering Program. Part of the program involved rotating work assignments with different parts of GE which meant moves to Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, Ithaca, New York and then back to Syracuse. During this period Sally would work as a secretary in various GE departments. In June 1960, following the program, Jim started at the GE Computer Lab, so Sally and Jim moved into a small house in Los Altos, California. Later, Sally and Jim bought a lot in Los Altos Hills. Sally sketched out a design for a house and a draftsman used her design to prepare construction drawings. Sally's house was built on the lot. Shortly after they moved into their new home, Michelle entered their lives and was later followed by Mark. GE closed the Computer Lab in 1966 so Jim went to Omnitec. Jim returned to the GE Computer Department and the family moved to Weston, Connecticut. In May 1970, GE and Honeywell merged their computer businesses to form Honeywell Information Systems (HIS.) Sally bought a horse, Pepper, for Michelle. A year later, Jim's department at HIS moved to Massachusetts, so the family, including Pepper, moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts. Sally and Jim bought a house in Sudbury with a large lot on which they built a barn for Pepper. We all took riding lessons on Pepper and Sally took some jumping lessons. During our time at Sudbury, Sally had a successful career in real estate. After a few years, the HIS headquarters was moved to Minnesota. Sally found a home for Pepper and off we all went to live in Minnesota, first in Minnetonka and then, some years later, in Chaska. Sally's last days were at Prairie Bluffs Senior Living in Eden Prairie. Sally became very active in the Minnetonka United Methodist Church (MUMC) and was for a time the church administrator. She served on or chaired committees, sang in the choir, led groups at vacation bible school, mentored confirmands, and was a member of UMW (now United Women of Faith.) Sally worked on MUMC outreach programs like Meals on Wheels, serving meals at Simpson Shelter, and quilting, and she enjoyed church fellowship activities including lunch bunch, bridge, and softball. Sally greeted everyone with that beautiful smile, reaching out to everyone as she spread joy and love. Often, new members would comment that Sally made them feel welcome to MUMC. Sally helped many people including an immigrant family from Romania. Sally and Jim took square dance lessons and became members of the Honeywheelers, a startup square-dance club. From this, Sally helped form the Proud Promenadors, a teen square-dance club. Sally also enjoyed being a Red Hat lady. Sally loved cats, owning several over the years. Many times, we would foster a cat and we would always be sad when it left for its forever home. We kept the last one, Amanda, that Sally liked to call Mandy Dandy. Celebration of Life will be on September 22, 2023, at 11am (Visitation at 10am) at Minnetonka United Methodist Church, 17611 Lake Street Extension, Minnetonka, MN 55345. Luncheon to follow. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Simpson Housing Services.

Tributes

Sally Ann Colburn

June 11, 1932 - August 30, 2023

Tributes

Sally Ann Colburn

June 11, 1932 - August 30, 2023

We are here for you 24x7

Call us and get help now

(612) 377-2203