Sally Joanne Dempster

Sally Joanne Dempster (nee Strott) passed away peacefully in her home on July 28. She is reunited in Heaven with her parents John Charles II and Lillian Heubner Strott, her infant daughter Deborah Jean, and her brother John Charles Strott III. She was the loving wife of 64 years to Darrell Dean Dempster and a proud mother to Charles Edwin (Eddie) Dempster (Eva), Diane Marie Stanko (Carl), David Andrew Dempster (Dawn) and Holly Dempster Phillips. She is also survived by nine grandchildren: Michelle, Jason (Sarah), and Eric Stanko; Mitchell, Brooke, Cody, Reagan and Greer Dempster; and Nicole Phillips.

Sally was born April 22, 1934, in Baltimore Maryland. She was a graduate of Catonsville High School and received a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland (shown in the picture with a Florence Nightingale cap). Before staying home to raise her family, she was a Public Health Nurse in Annapolis.

She met Lieutenant Darrell D. Dempster through a nursing school friend whose husband went to the Naval Academy with Darrell. She thought Darrell was very exciting because he had traveled the US and abroad. She was always ready to go where duty called. The newly married Dempsters were stationed in Yokosuka Japan from 1959 – 1963, followed by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Monterey, California; and then Washington, DC. The next move was back to the West to Pleasant Hill, California. Here, Sally managed a household of four children ages one to ten during two tours of duty while Darrell was deployed in the Tonkin Gulf on the aircraft carrier, the USS Ranger (CA-61).

The family then moved down the coast to Coronado, California for five years and then, in 1976, back across the country to the Pentagon and the Naval Air Systems Command, where Darrell retired as a Project Manager in 1981.

After Darrell retired from the Navy in 1981, they traveled to many countries, including Poland, The Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Greece, England, Wales, Scotland, France, Germany, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, China, Hong Kong Canada, Cuba, British Virgin Islands, and the US Virgin Islands.

Sally was a devout Christian and active in the Lutheran Church throughout her life. She was baptized, confirmed, as well as married at Christ Church, Inner Harbor, in Baltimore. Upon returning to Annapolis in 1988 and becoming a member of St Martin’s Lutheran Church, she led bible study, was elected to the church council, taught Sunday School, and sang in the choir. She could not read music, yet she could sing all the songs with a beautiful voice. Her home was your home and she welcomed visitors through Global Missions from companion synods from Finland, Estonia and Denmark. She also helped to coordinate their trips and entertained them.

She loved her family and one of her favorite traditions was having her Grandchildren act out the story of Jesus’ birth with a play each Christmas. She said that new cast members were always welcome.

When her children began to go to college, she earned a Clinical Pastoral Education Certificate at St Elizabeth’s Hospital and also worked as an addictions nurse at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, DC. She also received certificates for continuing education courses taken at Georgetown University Hospital, the National Institute of Health, George Mason University, the University of Virginia, Old Dominion University, and Roanoke College where Dr. M Scott Peck was the instructor. Her post-military wife’s life led her across the globe. She could carry on a conversation with anyone and easily made friends wherever she went.

English was Sally’s favorite subject in school and she volunteered to teach English to Japanese girls while in Japan and English to young adults in the La Mancha area of Spain.

Sally had a grateful heart and even as Alzheimer’s took away her mind and body, she gave thanks to her family and caregivers and told them she loved them right up until the end. The Dempster family would like to thank the caring staffs of Visiting Angels, Synergy and Hospice of the Chesapeake for making her transition as comfortable as possible and allowing her to remain in her home with a view of the Chesapeake, which she loved.

Services will be held at St. Martins Lutheran Church at 10:30 AM on Saturday, August 21. Reception to follow. All are welcome. Donations in memory of Sally can be made to St. Martins Lutheran Church, 1120 Spa Rd, Annapolis, MD 21403.

Burial will be at the Baltimore National Cemetery in Catonsville, Maryland where Sally will be laid to rest with her infant daughter, Deborah. The time is not determined.