Susanne (Wilson) Sachs

SACHS, WILSON, BLAKE, STEFFENER

Posted By: Stacy Bliesener (email)
Date: 10/24/2014 at 07:00:34

Susanne Wilson Sachs, 83, a native of Des Moines County, died Monday night, January 5, 2009, at her home in Kansas City, Missouri. Mrs. Sachs had many health challenges in recent years, but remained a strong and determined personality throughout life. She was born on the Wilson family farm in Franklin Township, Des Moines County on June 22, 1925. Mrs. Sachs was the daughter of Fred Wilson and June Blake Wilson. Her paternal and maternal ancestors were early settlers of Des Moines County, with the earliest arrivals coming prior to Iowa statehood. Mrs. Sachs attended Sperry Consolidated School, where she excelled in speech, dramatics and six-girl basketball. She graduated from Sperry in the Class of 1942. Mrs. Sachs received her BA in Romance Languages from the State University of Iowa in 1947. After graduating from the University of Iowa, Mrs. Sachs lived on Long Island, New York and was employed by AT&T, working in radio relay engineering, at the time a male-dominated field. She transferred with AT&T to the Kansas City office in 1953. In Kansas City, as a newly-converted Democrat who idolized Adlai E. Stevenson, Mrs. Sachs became active in the Jackson County Young Democrats, along with other young supporters of Missouri Congressman Richard Bolling. It was there she met her husband of almost 49 years, Senior Federal District Judge Howard F. Sachs of Kansas City. Mrs. Sachs and Judge Sachs were married in Kansas City in 1960, and their sons Alex Wilson Sachs and Adam Phinney Sachs were born in the early 1960s. When the boys were still very young, she volunteered in the early years of the Head Start program, using her knowledge of Spanish language to help teach children whose first language was often Spanish. Mrs. Sachs remained an active Democrat and held office in the Democratic Council of Jackson County. For some years before her husband's judicial appointment, Mrs. Sachs served as a volunteer and staff aide in the Kansas City office of U.S. Senator Thomas F. Eagleton and on his 1974 re-election campaign. She was also active in the women's equality movement, and campaigned for the enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. Although politically "benched" by Judge Sachs' appointment, Mrs. Sachs remained actively interested in current events and strongly encouraged her sons in their political and public policy interests. Although both are attorneys now, Adam began his career working in Washington, D.C. as a legislative assistant and later as Staff Counsel for Congressman Lane Evans of Rock Island, IL, and Alex, like his mother a graduate of the University of Iowa, worked in Iowa politics for a number of years, including serving five years in Washington as Deputy Press Secretary for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Mrs. Sachs' strongly held views and progressive ideals made her a favorite of family and friends. In her later years, Mrs. Sachs spent much of her time watching vintage movies, college basketball, reading the New York Times and myriad books brought home by Judge Sachs from the public library. Although she lived away from Des Moines County for more than 60 years, Mrs. Sachs retained her ties to the communities of Sperry and Mediapolis through her family, through old friends, her too infrequent visits, and her genealogical research. She had many distant cousins in Des Moines County, most descended from the Ballard, Blake, Belknap, Creighton, Parrott, Phinney and Hedges families. She was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, Phi Sigma Iota and for many years has been a member of Burlington's Stars and Stripes Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). Her brother Evan B. "Red" Wilson of Mediapolis and brother Fred Wilson, Jr., who farmed near Grandview, preceded her in death. Her closest Des Moines County relative is her niece Holly Elizabeth Wilson Steffener, daughter of Red and Helen Wilson. Mrs. Sachs is survived by her husband, sons, daughter-in-law Julana Harper-Sachs, step-granddaughters Haleigh Harper and Maggie Harper and grandchildren Eleanor Rose Sachs and Addison Oscar Phinney Sachs. She requested cremation. A portion of her ashes will be returned to Des Moines County. Source: The Hawkeye