Teacher And Volunteer Sally Ryan Supported The Arts At Bush School
Literature in all forms captivated Sara "Sally" Stubbs Ryan. She was committed to bringing it to others.
She did publicity for drama productions at The Bush School in Seattle. She attended scores of performances in the years her three boys attended Bush.
"She was a great supporter of all the arts at Bush," said Bush drama director Sally Pritchard. "Her boys were in almost every play we did, at least 30. . . . She and John came every night, and you could hear Sally's raucous laugh out in the audience."
The Sally Ryan Stage at Bush will be dedicated this spring.
Mrs. Ryan taught poetry and created books of poetry for each lower-school class. She also served as president of the Bush Parent-Teacher-Student Association.
"She was a volunteer and gave of herself, like when she did teaching to put me through medical school, but she always had something going for herself, too," said her husband of 31 years, John Ryan Jr. of Seattle.
She saved enough from her teaching jobs to take herself and her husband to Europe, buy a Volkswagen and tour the continent.
In 1990 she went back to the University of Washington for her master's degree and doctorate in comparative literature, focusing on the role of the mother in modern literature.
Mrs. Ryan died Sunday (Jan. 31) of a brain tumor. She was 54.
Born in Oklahoma City, Okla., she graduated from high school in Denver and earned a teaching degree and a bachelor's degree in English at Duke University. She taught English in Michigan and Massachusetts.
She moved to Seattle in 1977 and worked as a teacher's aide at Bush, then developed a poetry class.
Shortly before her death, the UW awarded her a Distinguished Teaching Certificate.
Other survivors include her sons John Ryan and William Ryan, both of Seattle; and Benjamin Ryan, New York City; her parents, William and Betty Stubbs, Denver; her sister, Jane Scofield, Denver; and her brothers William Stubbs, Denver; Fell Stubbs, Phoenix; and Randall Stubbs, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Services are at 5 p.m. Monday at Volney Richmond Auditorium at Virginia Mason Medical Center, 925 Seneca St.
Remembrances may go to the Ryan Family Endowment for Drama, The Bush School, 405 36th Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98112; or to Virginia Mason Foundation, P.O. Box 1930, Seattle, WA 98111.
Carole Beers' phone message number is 206-464-2391. Her e-mail address is: cbeers@seattletimes.com