Sarah Chappell Trulove

A memorial service for Sarah Chappell Trulove, 83, will be held at 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 16, in Danforth Chapel on the KU campus. She died February 14, 2019, at The Windsor of Lawrence.

Sarah was born on February 10, 1936, in Los Angeles, the daughter of John Edgar and Dorothy (Kober) Chappell and the second of three children. During her childhood the family lived successively in San Francisco, Amarillo, and Topeka, moving where her father, a career-long employee of the Santa Fe Railroad, was transferred.

Sarah began college at Washburn University in 1954 as a vocal music major. With her lovely mezzo-soprano voice she went on to be active in solo and choral performance through the years, singing in local operatic productions as well as church choirs. Her vocal interests were twinned with an active involvement in community theatre, and she was a member of the Topeka Community Theatre cast in the late ‘70s when its production of Neil Simons’ “The Good Doctor” won the national community theatre award and the cast participated in the international community theatre competition in Dundalk, Ireland.

In 1956 Sarah married Donald Trulove, a career Air Force officer. They had two children, Ann and Paul. The family lived in the Philippines and Hawaii as well as in stateside locations from New Jersey to California, before returning to Topeka in 1970. The marriage ended in divorce in 1980. Sarah had continued taking courses toward her degree, at the University of California-Davis and the University of Hawaii. After returning to Topeka, she completed her undergraduate work at Washburn, graduating with a degree in elementary education, and continued with graduate study in education. After teaching elementary school for a year, she became director of Christian education at Central Congregational Church, a position she held from 1973-77. She was active in women’s rights activities in Topeka and the League of Women Voters, and was state coordinator for a national reproductive rights coalition of religious organizations.

During the 1970s Sarah began graduate work in Religious Studies at the University of Kansas, initially as a part-time commuter. She enrolled in a range of courses substantially beyond the number required for the degree, wrote a thesis on a topic in New Testament studies, and completed her Master’s degree in 1982. While she was a graduate student she taught New Testament Greek as an assistant instructor in the KU Classics Department from 1977-81. From 1983-87 she worked as the first assistant director of the Hall Center for the Humanities.

Sarah married James (Jim) Woelfel, a faculty member in Philosophy and Religious Studies, on November 24, 1982 in Lawrence. Both became actively involved in the Western Civilization Program, he as director of the program and she as the writer of a successful grant proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities that led to major changes in the program. She went on to serve as a lecturer teaching Western Civilization classes, co-leader of three semester abroad programs in Florence and Paris, and designer and instructor of the Western Civilization Independent Study program from 1993-2010. Sarah and Jim created, co-edited, and contributed chapters to “Patterns in Western Civilization,” which was the program’s background textbook from 1991-2013 and went through four editions. Over the years Sarah was active in professional organizations and published several encyclopedia articles and essays in edited volumes. In the 1980s she was also an associate editor of the American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, editing a special issue on “Feminist Issues in American Religious Thought.” She was especially proud of her large collection of books by and about Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group, and enjoyed visiting Bloomsbury sites on her frequent trips to Britain.

An avid and creative gardener, Sarah also oversaw with impeccable taste the progressive beautification of her and Jim’s home for 36 years in Old West Lawrence. She was very committed to the OWL neighborhood and its people, and for some years was active in the neighborhood association, playing a leading role in creating and implementing the Applause Award that annually recognized homeowners who were making significant improvements to their property. Her culinary artistry and love of sharing it was almost “legendary” among friends and family. And Sarah loved to travel. Among her and Jim’s travels were many trips to Europe, including the study abroad programs in Florence and Paris and another in Berlin, and seeing close and cherished friends in the UK and Germany.

The outpouring of condolences from friends in Lawrence, across the U.S. and abroad, forms a composite portrait of Sarah. They praise her warmth, intelligence, sharp-edged wit, often blunt directness, and curiosity about the world; her kindness and support; her tenacious loyalty to friends; her skill and graciousness as a host to a few friends or large receptions; her always having an interesting book she was reading and interesting things to talk about. As one friend summed her up: “an amazing, gifted, funny, brilliant, tough, talented, beautiful woman.”

Sarah was preceded in death by her sister Mary Lou Chappell and her brother John Chappell. She is survived by her husband, of the home. Other survivors include her children and their spouses, Paul Trulove and Lona Mathes Trulove, Annapolis, MD, and Ann Trulove and Doug Hinton, Burbank, CA; her stepchildren and their spouses, Allegra Dalton and James Joerke, Kansas City, MO, Sarah Gowen and Matt Gowen, Prairie Village, KS, and Skye Church and John Church, Tulsa, OK. Also surviving her are seven grandchildren: Katherine Ellis, with husband Tom Ellis; Margaret Mayberry, with husband Justin Mayberry; Matthew Trulove; Sylvia Joerke, Josephine Gowen, Marshall Gowen, and Jessica Hamilton; and seven great-grandchildren: Emmett, Samuel, Georgia, Eli, and Ruth Ellis, and Jackson and Emmaline Mayberry. Sarah was devoted to both her children and her stepchildren, and thoroughly enjoyed being a grandmother and a great-grandmother.

The family would like to express our grateful thanks to the Visiting Nurses hospice care providers and the staff of The Windsor for their devoted care and support both to Sarah and to family members; and to Dr. Anna Kumru, who cared so ably and thoughtfully for Sarah as her physician throughout her last years.

Memorial contributions may be made in Sarah’s name to the Humanities Program (formerly Humanities & Western Civilization) of the University of Kansas or to Visiting Nurses of Douglas County, and may be sent in care of the Warren-McElwain Mortuary.