Sally Gunderson

Kalamazoo - Sally Gunderson died peacefully at home on August 23, 2025 after a short illness. She was born on October 2, 1940 to Gerald and Margaret Weaver of Williamsfield Illinois and grew up there. Sally attended nearby Knox College and graduated in 1962, making her the third generation of women to earn a degree from Knox and become teachers. After graduation she took her first job in Des Plaines, Illinois. While living there, she met Jim, her future husband. They married in 1965 and moved to Kalamazoo where they resided for the rest of their lives.

"Mrs Gunderson" taught 4th grade in Kalamazoo for 30 years, nearly all of it at Washington Elementary School. For a number of years after she retired, Sally remained involved by coordinating the annual science fair. Another one of the joys of retirement was reconnecting with students in Kalamazoo and getting to know them again as adults with careers and families.

Sally and Jim were longtime members of both Kalamazoo Country Club and Bonita Bay Club in Florida. Sally remained an avid tennis player and golfer as long as her body cooperated. Toward the end of her life, she continued to get out on the course even when all she could do was chip and putt or even only ride along in the cart. She was also a longtime volunteer at the annual Boys 16 & 18 National Tennis Championships held at Kalamazoo College. She became a longtime fan of professional players she had first seen play as teens there.

Sally learned to share Jim's taste for adventure which took them on many exciting trips throughout their long lives, from backpacking in the Rockies and an unguided rafting trip through Alaskan grizzly country to African safaris and arctic cruises.

Sally loved being at their 'up north' Michigan cottage on the Betsie River and their winter home in Bonita Springs Florida, where they spent the cold months for the last 25 years. There she generously hosted many family and loved ones and settled into a friend group as warm as the one in Michigan. I don't know if she or Jim started either one, but in both places, she was part of a near daily social event -- a humans and dogs meet up that rotated among neighbors' garages. In her last few years, as Sally gradually lost mobility, they were happy to make Sally's garage the usual gathering spot.

Not able to have children of their own, Sally and Jim were a warm and generous Aunt and Uncle to many actual nieces and nephews and others who were more distantly related, or not related at all. She praised their achievements, frowned at their peccadillos, worried over their romantic lives, took them on outings, and almost never forgot to send a birthday card.

Sally was preceded in death by her parents, Gerald and Margaret (Moreland) Weaver, her brother Gerald Weaver, and her husband James Gunderson. She is survived by her brother John Scott Weaver, many nieces and nephews, cousins, friends, her 'Florida family of Liz and Jared Larson and sons, and her labradoodle Targa.

The family will receive friends between 5 and 8 p.m., on Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at Langeland Family Funeral Home Westside Chapel at 3926 South 9th Street. She will be laid to rest next to Jim in Princeville, IL. Celebrations of life will be held in Kalamazoo and Bonita Springs at later dates.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Bronson Health Foundation / Gunderson Prostate Cancer Education Fund, 301 John Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49007 the Second Reformed Church, 2323 Stadium Dr, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, and Williamsfield United Methodist Church, 430 N. Chicago Avenue, POB 387, Williamsfield, IL.

Please visit Sally's memorial webpage to share condolences and memories with her family at https://www.Langelands.com