Sarah Hamilton

Sarah Garland Hamilton, a native Oak Parker, died at her home in the South Loop in Chicago on July 9, eight months after a diagnosis of brain cancer. She was sixty-four. Following the diagnosis she retired from her job as legal assistant at Funkhouser Vegosen Liebman & Dunn with the goal of organizing both her own affairs and her mother's. Her fervent wish was to spare her relatives confusion and fuss. A champion of elegance and clarity, she was an invaluable editor as well as organizer, as indispensible to her employers as a single person can be. She was devoted to her bosses first at Wilson & McIlvaine, then at Doyle & Bolotin, and finally at FVLD. She had not initially intended to spend her life among the varied characters at law, studying chemistry as an undergrad at the University of Illinois at Champaign. She later received her Masters in English Literature from Roosevelt, then studied French at the Sorbonne before returning to English, writing her PhD thesis at Loyola on the use of music and time in the novels of George Elliot. The novel Middlemarch sustained and amused her until the end of her life. Sarah had many devotions, including her book club of thirty years, ballet, classical music, and yoga. In gratitude, near the end, she pronounced yoga to be "the greatest boon to mankind." Her greatest devotion, however, was to her mother, caring for her though many decades and several changes of address. She is predeceased by her father, Allen Beye Hamilton. Survivors include her mother, her brothers, Duncan and Bruce, her sisters, Jeremy and Jane, her brother-in-law Bob Willard, her niece and nephews, her book club family, and many friends. In lieu of flowers please send contributions to Rainbow Hospice or Journey Care Hospice, or to the Women's Board of the Presbyterian Home, in Evanston, Illinois. A memorial service will be held on Friday, July 15th, at 10 AM, at the Elliott Chapel on the Presbyterian Home campus, 3131 Simpson, Evanston, IL.