Aileen Armstrong Sagers

Aileen Sagers passed on to glory on February 1, 2022 at the age of 87. She was born on September 25, 1934, the eldest of the four girls born to Lawrence and Norah Armstrong.

Aileen spent most of her younger years in San Francisco, attending several schools including Polytechnic High School where she especially enjoyed gymnastics. The family attended Calvary Methodist Church, close to their home in the Sunset District. They went on many hiking trips in the foothills of the Sierras. In 1951 they moved to Seattle, Washington, where Aileen’s father continued his work as an accountant / auditor for the US government. Aileen completed high school at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. She and her sisters all attended church at Ravenna Presbyterian church and became active in the youth groups. After high school Aileen attended Whitworth College in Spokane for one year. In 1954 the family moved to Portland, Oregon where Aileen worked at a bank. After several years, she moved back to San Francisco, where she entered the nursing program at St Francis Hospital and graduated with her RN certificate.

While in San Francisco she met and married Robert Edward Sagers. They celebrated 54 years of marriage just prior to Robert’s passing in 2021. Over the years she took good care of him through back surgery, severe sleep apnea, prostate cancer, heart surgery, multiple strokes, and even COVID-19. She was as much a nurse at home as she had been at work.

A few years after marrying, Aileen and Robert moved to Chico so that Robert could study Computer Science at Cal State Chico. During this time their only child, Alexander, was born. The family later moved to the Bay Area and eventually settled in San Jose, CA. Aileen worked as an RN for a while. Although she enjoyed being a nurse, the environment and schedule was very stressful and she developed migraine headaches, which resulted in her leaving nursing to become a secretary at Evergreen School District.

In 1981 the family moved from San Jose to the outskirts of Tehachapi, CA. Aileen began working as a secretary to a colonel at Edwards Air Force Base, where Robert was also working. Together they built their forever-home overlooking the railroad tracks in Golden Hills. In the early 1990’s Aileen was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome and retired earlier than planned. For many years she stayed active in women’s Bible study groups, and would give generously to local charities and Christian missionary work. She developed a number of close friendships with whom she would enjoy coffee and long talks. In her leisure time she enjoyed working on puzzles, playing computer Solitaire, reading murder mysteries (especially Agatha Christie novels), and watching British mystery television with Robert. She loved being by the ocean. Occasionally she and Robert would get away to Pismo Beach or even make the trip to San Francisco to visit the beach and her family.

Aileen was preceded in death by her parents and two sisters, Margaret Gruber and Corinne Armstrong. She is survived by her son Alexander, daughter-in-law Evelt, grandchildren Tony, Victoria and Kyle, and great-grandchildren Nyles and Alonzo, as well as her youngest sister, Ann Kingma.

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