Sarah Elizabeth Altgelt "Sarah" Campbell

1929 - 2025

August 30, 1929 - November 13, 2025 Sarah Elizabeth Altgelt Campbell passed away peacefully in her residence at Morningside Ministries, San Antonio, on November 13, 2025. Sarah was born August 30, 1929, in Boerne, Texas, the daughter of Ernest and Marion Altgelt, and grew up on her family's ranch in nearby Leon Springs. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio in 1946 and the University of Texas Austin in 1950, earning a B.S. in chemistry. Her undergraduate research resulted in a paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. She met Francis (Frank) P. Campbell, a World War II Navy veteran, at the University and they married in 1951. Before her marriage, Sarah was employed as a lab chemist with W.H. Curtin & Co., a laboratory equipment and chemical supplier in Houston. After living in Lufkin, Texas for a few years, the Campbells and their first two children, a son and daughter, moved to Houston in 1958. Two more daughters joined the family. In Houston, the Campbells were members of St. Patrick's and St. Mark's Episcopal Church and Sarah volunteered in various outreach ministries. The Campbell family spent many sunny weekends at their beach house in Galveston. Frank and Sarah retired to Fredericksburg in 1990 and became active in the St. Barnabas Episcopal Church community. In addition to tending to her organic vegetable garden, Sarah belonged to Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the King. Sarah was awarded the DAR Community Service Award in 2021 for her work as a founder of the Gillespie Literacy Council and 27 years as an English-language reading tutor. Sarah was preceded in death by Frank, her husband, brother John Altgelt, and sister Helen Boyce. Surviving Sarah are son John Campbell (Catherine) and three daughters Carol Moshier (Stephen), Lydia Hiatt (Tony), and Grace Watson (John), eleven grandchildren, eleven great grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews.

A public memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m., January 5, 2026, at Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemetery Dominion, 20900 I-10, San Antonio. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Gillespie Literacy Council, 1108 Gypsum Mine Road, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624, or St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 601 W. Creek St., Fredericksburg, TX 78624.