Christine Cole is a writer and former teacher who met Sally in the 1990s. She holds the singular distinction of having convinced Sally to travel to Europe, where she lives (Britain).
Sally always said that Christine was the best writer of all of us whom she knew.
You can see by the photo that she is genuinely special.
Obituary by Christine Cole
Sally Miller Gearhart, educator, author, scholar, lover, and activist, died peacefully after a gradual denouement on 14 July 2021. Born in Pearisburg, Virginia, on 15 April 1931, Gearhart studied rhetoric and theater, leading a conflicted life as a lesbian in three closets: the 1950s, academia, and the American south. She blew those doors off their hinges by moving to California and became the first openly lesbian tenured professor in the US while teaching at San Francisco State. She was a trailblazing political activist, working with Harvey Milk to defeat Proposition 6 and advocating for lesbians, animals, and the environment throughout her life. Her writings include science fiction (The Wanderground, Earthkeep Trilogy), theology (Loving Women/Loving Men: Gay Liberation and the Church), and the esoteric (A Feminist Tarot). She featured in films including Word is Out: Stories of Some of our Lives, The Times of Harvey Milk, Last Call at Maud's, Framing Lesbian Fashion, and No Secret Anymore.
Gearhart's dream of a community of women, which she imagined into being, existed for decades north of Willits, where she was known as 'the Mayor of Chinquapin.' She entertained fine women, cats, dogs, racoons, deer, birds, and the occasional bear and human male with her stories, her music-making, and her imaginative appreciation of the diversity of the human experience. Willits was a sanctuary for her which she extended to many beings. The town offered her both welcome and challenge, as she delighted in the company of free spirits and loggers, left- and right-wing thinkers, actors and reactors, and learned yoga, Spanish, and piano at an age when most people are satisfied merely to teach. Her sonorous speaking voice, her open heart, and her ready laughter drew others to her, and she relished the dichotomy of having the seclusion of her life on the land while still connecting to the many communities that Willits nourishes.
While Sally's presence will be missed, her influence continues, not just as ripples on the surface of a pond, but as the pattern of ripples caused by a skipping stone. She referred to death as 'dropping my body,' and saw it not as an end but as the next step on an adventure. Sally is remembered by many who love her, many who learned from her, and many who only know her by her words--but those words, like Sally, reach toward eternity. In lieu of flowers, donations, or memorials, go out and love more.
