OBITUARY

Sarah Leigh Rutherford was the third child born to the union of  Russell and Edna O'Neal Rutherford on September 14, 1950 in Marion, NC. As the baby girl, she grew up with a strong will and determination to succeed, demonstrating her scholarly aptitude while participating in student government and the debate teams, all the while maintaining honor roll status throughout high school. After graduating from Burke County's high school at 16 years old, she followed her big sister's path to Winston Salem State University. While attending WSSU, Sarah became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha in December 1968, where she served as Anti-Basileus and engaged with the local community youths. She graduated in 1971, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor's degree in English and a minor in History.

Love and the pursuit of higher academic achievement sent her to El Paso, TX, where she started her married life with Andrew Yarborough and obtained her Master's degree in Administration from University of Texas, El Paso. But neither Texas or Andrew could keep her long, so she returned to the east coast where she spent several years working for Prudential Insurance, making stops in Pennsylvania and Florida, before returning back to her chosen field of education. Once back east, the Newark Board of Education was hiring, just not guidance counselors at the time. So Sarah started her career as a teacher in the Newark school system until the guidance counselor position became available. Ultimately, she spent 26+ years with the Newark Board of Education, retiring in December 2007.

In her spare time, Sarah was an avid reader. Her home overflowed with books, magazines, and newspapers. She had a whole library of books on her Kindle and was one of only a handful of people that still ventured to the library with a library card! Scrabble was her board game of choice and news program hosts were her roommates—as long as her TV was on, MSNBC was on the screen (except when the soap operas were on!).

Sarah passed peacefully in her home. She leaves behind her devoted big sister, Benecia Rutherford, of Nebo, NC, her sister-in-law, Veronica Rutherford and nieces Veronica and Monica Rutherford, all in Nebo, NC; a nephew, Michael Rutherford Jr., a grand nephew, Austin Michael Quarles, a great grand niece, Isabelle Quarles, along with a host of cousins and friends throughout NJ, NY and NC. We love and will miss you dearly, but recognize the blessing of no more aches, pains, or rashes... We look forward to the day when we will all meet again!

A Memorial Service honoring the life of Ms. Sarah Leigh Rutherford will be held Saturday October 12 at 1:00 p.m. at St. John A.M.E. Church in Nebo.  The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.