Sara Allensworth Michl, age 78, passed away suddenly from a stroke on November 25, 2018 at her home in Boulder, Colorado.
Born Sara Allensworth on June 27, 1940 in Galesburg, Illinois to W. R. and Frances G. Mason Allensworth, she spent her life traveling the world and working to save it. After a first trip to Europe in high school she returned in 1961 as a student at Cornell and while visiting Prague, Czechoslovakia, met her future husband, Josef. From 1962 to 1964 she worked at the State Department in Washington, DC and then attended graduate school in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. She spent summers in Mexico researching urbanization and community development. Sara and Josef were married in Aarhus, Denmark on March 14, 1969; took a two-week cross-country ski trek honeymoon in northern Finland and then for good measure married again on April 7 in Heiligenblut, Austria ("twice sewn holds better"). They lived together for half a century, first in Aarhus, Denmark, then seventeen years in Salt Lake City, Utah, four years in Austin, Texas, and in Boulder, Colorado since 1990.
Sara was adventuresome and during these decades she roamed with Josef all over the world. She climbed the Kilimanjaro in Africa and Kota Kinabalu on Borneo, walked from Argentina to Chile across the Andes, climbed over a fence into North Korea, backpacked in the Alaskan arctic, ran into a cholera epidemic near Timbuktu, etc. Sara adored nature, especially mountains and wild flowers. She enjoyed studying languages (she spoke six), and her love of getting to know people led her to organize neighborhood language study groups. At home, Sara was a devoted mother, a philanthropist, and a "professional volunteer", especially interested in water management and land use. She championed a variety of environmental causes as a researcher, moderator, and lobbyist. She held leadership positions in the League of Women Voters and served on the Boulder City Planning Board. Until her passing, she worked as a volunteer ranger in the Indian Peak Wilderness Area.
Sara is survived by her husband, Josef; son, John Allensworth (Jenda); brother, Robert Allensworth; grandson, Mason Mulholland Michl; three nieces and one nephew. She was preceded in death by two children, Joseph Allen (Pepik) and Georgina Frances, and her siblings, David Allensworth and Nancy Drysdale.
Born Sara Allensworth on June 27, 1940 in Galesburg, Illinois to W. R. and Frances G. Mason Allensworth, she spent her life traveling the world and working to save it. After a first trip to Europe in high school she returned in 1961 as a student at Cornell and while visiting Prague, Czechoslovakia, met her future husband, Josef. From 1962 to 1964 she worked at the State Department in Washington, DC and then attended graduate school in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. She spent summers in Mexico researching urbanization and community development. Sara and Josef were married in Aarhus, Denmark on March 14, 1969; took a two-week cross-country ski trek honeymoon in northern Finland and then for good measure married again on April 7 in Heiligenblut, Austria ("twice sewn holds better"). They lived together for half a century, first in Aarhus, Denmark, then seventeen years in Salt Lake City, Utah, four years in Austin, Texas, and in Boulder, Colorado since 1990.
Sara was adventuresome and during these decades she roamed with Josef all over the world. She climbed the Kilimanjaro in Africa and Kota Kinabalu on Borneo, walked from Argentina to Chile across the Andes, climbed over a fence into North Korea, backpacked in the Alaskan arctic, ran into a cholera epidemic near Timbuktu, etc. Sara adored nature, especially mountains and wild flowers. She enjoyed studying languages (she spoke six), and her love of getting to know people led her to organize neighborhood language study groups. At home, Sara was a devoted mother, a philanthropist, and a "professional volunteer", especially interested in water management and land use. She championed a variety of environmental causes as a researcher, moderator, and lobbyist. She held leadership positions in the League of Women Voters and served on the Boulder City Planning Board. Until her passing, she worked as a volunteer ranger in the Indian Peak Wilderness Area.
Sara is survived by her husband, Josef; son, John Allensworth (Jenda); brother, Robert Allensworth; grandson, Mason Mulholland Michl; three nieces and one nephew. She was preceded in death by two children, Joseph Allen (Pepik) and Georgina Frances, and her siblings, David Allensworth and Nancy Drysdale.