Sally Schaertl Death – Obituary: Sally Schaertl (née Litz), a devoted wife and mother of ten, passed away on February 12, 2023, at the age of 91. She wore several hats, including those of a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, daughter, sister, teacher, community organizer, matriarch, and friend.
She was destined for large things—huge families, that is—when she was born on a lovely fall day on September 27, 1931, in Homer, New York, to Gertrude (Morenus) and Alfred Litz. Sally, who was raised as an only kid in a home full of caring cousins, moved to SUNY Albany where she met George Schaertl, the love of her life. They were turned away at the Canadian border owing to the polio epidemic after getting married on August 23, 1952, and their life began as an adventure. Sally settled with her expanding family in a home she and her husband George built on a gravel road just outside the hamlet in 1956 after relocating to Shortsville in 1954. After fifteen years, she discovered herself with ten kids and a hectic family schedule.
While raising her children, Sally worked a variety of jobs, from selling hot coffee to weary truckers at the Thruway diner to distributing ice cream cones at Bud’s Polar Bar. She used her evenings to get her Master’s in Education at Nazareth College in Rochester when her youngest child started kindergarten. She began her career as a teacher before switching to a full-time schedule when Principal Neil Harkenrider contacted and said, “We need a replacement teacher and you start tomorrow.” Sally taught for the following 25+ years in the Red Jacket Central School District’s 7th grade math department after quickly becoming a mainstay there. She gave the entire sum from her final paycheck as a teacher to the Booster Club and the building of the Baseball and Softball dugouts. Before she passed away, her son Jim, who was recruited to construct them, was ignorant of her involvement.
There is no way to overstate the impact she had on her neighborhood. Leader of Girl Scouts, Treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce, Founder of the Red Jacket Community Library, Founder of the Red Jacket Booster Club, and numerous other positions.
From the day she was born, Sally resided in the same brick home on Shortsville Road. Jared, her grandson, predeceased her. She is survived by her husband of 70 years, George, her ten children, Sue, Jo, Mike, Lynn, Eric, Marc, Matt, Jim, Jed, and Lisa, as well as her 70+ grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many of them spent their summers at the Schaertl property, where they enjoyed playing kickball in the back field, swimming in the pool, attending large family dinners, playing tag throughout the house, and being treated to daily lunch by Grandma, who had Mark’s Pizzeria on Her family’s bedrock memories and traditions will be the events she planned, the holiday customs she established (and then insisted upon), and so on. She was adored everywhere she went, from Red Jacket to the center of our neighborhood.
All who knew her are encouraged to stop by the American Legion, 1513 Palmyra Street, Shortsville, NY, for a Celebration of Life on Sunday, February 19, from 1-4 pm. You can leave comments on the Fuller Funeral House website if you have any particularly memorable memories of her. Go here for additional information or to donate to the Shortsville Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce, an organization Sally was glad to support herself.
