Sally Urban Ricord

1925 – 2015

Sally was born Stella Gertrude Urban in Irwin, Pennsylvania to Polish émigrés, Ludwig and Veronica Urban. Despite the hardships of the depression her family encouraged her to study dance as a young girl. She traveled on the road as an exhibition dancer at a very young age and served in the USO during World War Two. She was a gymnastics performer and toured with a professional dance company after the war, at which time she met Chester Ricord, a jazz drummer, while performing at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. They were married from 1950 until his death in 1982.

First and foremost to those who knew her best, Sally was a fiercely loving, dedicated, and proud mother to her four children, Louis, Teresa, Richard, and Raymond; and grandmother to Bonnie and Jackson. She had many friends and was especially close to those she met while volunteering for Boy Scout Troop 3 and her daughter’s school, Tierra Del Sol. She took special joy in the lifelong companionship she had with her daughter, Teresa.

Sally lived through vast changes in history and culture, and remained intensely curious and engaged in current events. She was a constant reader of American history. Words cannot describe her uniquely funny, tough, and tireless nature. Her major lessons to her children were loyalty to family, a love of work, and a profound sense of gratitude for life itself. She always made sure everyone was well fed.

She would like to be remembered as a vivacious, gorgeous dancer as a young girl, and as a vivacious, gorgeous mom in her later life.

She passed away on May 17, 2015 in Los Angeles, California after a brief illness. The cause of death was stroke.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Tierra Del Sol Foundation at www.tierradelsol.org in memory of Sally Ricord.