Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" Hart

If you ever met SALLIE HART, you likely left the encounter smiling, carrying one of her stories, and possibly covered in cat hair.
Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" Hart, 79, passed away peacefully on Oct. 30, 2025, after a brief but courageous battle with metastatic breast cancer, with family by her side.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Sarah Elizabeth Thurmond and Robert Esker Witschey.
Sallie is survived by her husband and partner-in-everything, Robert "Bob" Neal Hart, with whom she shared 53 years of marriage filled with laughter, adventure, and more tennis matches than one could count.
She is also survived by her two children, Chris (Jamie Ahn) and Camden Hart; her brother, Walter Witschey (Joan); and an extended family including nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and cousins, all of whom knew her as the heartbeat of every gathering.
Born on July 22, 1946, to a family with deep roots in Logan and Thurmond, W.Va., Sallie was a proud Mountaineer who graduated from West Virginia University, where she double majored in English and music and served as president of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Before raising her family, she modeled, worked as a systems engineer for IBM at the height of the computer revolution, and later became one of Charleston's top real estate agents. She could sell a house, host a dinner party, and still find time to sing in the St. Matthew's Choir, perform with Charleston's WomanSong, and debate literary symbolism with her friends in the Kanawha Lit Group.
Bob proposed to her on the back of a bus in Spain fitting for a couple who would go on to travel the world together. Sallie and Bob rode donkeys to the top of Santorini, Greece, wandered through London, Greece, Italy, and Mexico, and never met a plane ticket they didn't like. She also never met a cat she didn't love. Over the years, her home was ruled affectionately by Pinky, Downey, Fuzz Ball, Cajun, Girl Pie, and Peakie, who, in one last act of devotion, passed away the same day she did.
Sallie's greatest adventures, though, often took place close to home, in the company of her family. On trips to Florida, she and her boys suited up at the Howard Johnson to play laser tag, defending Earth from the "alien invasion of the I-95 Highway." And at her brother Walter's pool or any pool, really she and her sister-in-law, Joan, transformed into the Great Pulpo, a mythical giant octopus that emerged from the deep to chase and tag squealing children. It was silly, it was loud, and it was pure Sallie laughter first, joy always.
Her life lessons were simple but lasting: Be kind. Be a good friend. Listen more than you talk. See people for who they are. And read everything you can get your hands on. She lived those values every day.
Sallie could make a stranger feel like family in minutes. She laughed loudly, hugged tightly, and wasn't above embarrassing her kids with a big kiss at school drop-off just to make sure they knew they were loved.
In her 79 years, Sallie did not merely live she shined. She filled rooms with warmth and wit, sang until her voice ran out, and never stopped being the life of the party. Her family takes comfort in knowing that somewhere, she's laughing, cat in lap, tennis match on, book nearby, and glass of wine in hand, surrounded by old and new friends, telling stories about all of us.
A celebration of Sallie's remarkable life will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 36 Norwood Road, Charleston, WV, with a reception to follow.
Visitation will be held an hour prior to the service at Mathes Hall, across from the church.
In her honor, please share a good story, pet a cat, hit a tennis ball, or offer a big hug to someone who needs it. That's what she would have wanted. Donations may be made to Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation - Hart, Hollie (A Christmas Kitten); or the American Cancer Society.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.barlowbonsall.com.
Barlow Bonsall Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.