Sally Louise Rodgers

Sally Louise Rodgers, age 88, passed away October 15,2021 in Bellaire, Michigan. Sally was born to William C. Dachtler and Marjorie Bell Dachtler on September 18, 1933, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her family then resided in Ames, Iowa until 1941. The family then moved to the area around Alexandria Virginia.

Sally graduated from Mount Vernon High School in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1951 and would later receive her bachelor’s degree from Ohio University in 1955. She received her masters and doctorate degrees from Iowa State University in 1958 and 1960 in genetics.

From 1960 to 1962 Sally would work as an associate research scientist at the Jackson Laboratory in

Bar Harbor, Maine. She continued to work as a postdoctoral researcher from 1962-1972 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and the University of California, in Davis, CA. Sally became an Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University in State College, PA. in 1973. In 1980, she moved to Michigan where she met and married her late husband Robert T. Rodgers. After many travels and Rodgers family gatherings, Sally and Bob built a home and retired to Eastport, Michigan, in 1994. Sally resided in Eastport until 2021. During this time, she was a very active volunteer with the AC PAW animal rescue organization.

Sally had many hobbies. She loved to play the piano and was a qualified piano tuner. She played trombone in the Ohio University marching band. She was the owner of a 1950’s Thunderbird and the driver of recreational vehicles and tractors. She also attended small aircraft flight school in Davis, CA. Sally loved animals all her life, and after her husband’s passing in 1997, she fostered and adopted many beloved cats. Sally was the handler for her two Shetland Sheepdogs, Bonnie and Rider, in their many agility contests; and she took them just about everywhere she went. Her kitchen walls were covered with their winning contest ribbons. Sally was also a great photographer who kept many photo albums.

Sally was a loving daughter, sister and wife, and she was a caretaker for all of them before they passed. She deeply missed them, and during the last couple months of her life she believed they were very much alive and present with her. It gives her surviving family members and friends, peace, knowing that she is united with her loved ones and her many beloved pets.

Sally is survived by her nieces; Becky Mistretta of Lake Wales, FL, Susan Silvestri of Ocean Springs, MS, Merry Hughes of Madisonville, LA and Sally Cousins of Harahan, LA; her nephew, John Wilson of Mount Pleasant, WI; her step-daughter, Linda Cunningham of Stanwood, MI and many other loving members of Robert T. Rodgers' family.

She is preceded in death by her loving husband, Robert T. Rodgers; her parents, sister Roxanne Bell Wilson and her first husband, Ronald Leon Huff.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.greastlansing.com for the Rodgers family.