Sari Ellen Cimbalo Obituary (1944 - 2023)

Sari Ellen Cimbalo (nee Bell), 79 years old, of LeRoy, IL, died peacefully in her sleep at home the morning of November 30, 2023. Although this is exactly what she wanted, she was a social butterfly and would have loved to be at the gatherings celebrating her life this week. She was a graduate of Oak Park River Forest High School in 1962 and received her BA in English from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1966. She served her community as a social worker in Chicago, a substitute elementary school teacher in Schaumburg, and later as a teaching assistant for visually impaired students at Schaumburg High School. She had a special place in her heart for teenagers, hippies, novels, music of questionable integrity, word games, lilacs, and bodies of water, be it the Mississippi River bank in New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico in Clearwater or the Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach. She collected an impossible number of coffee mugs and recently loved recounting the daily mannerisms of the blue jays, cardinals, and squirrels joining her through the porch window for breakfast. Sari was the most incredible mother: inquisitive but never judgmental, interested but never nosy, supportive but never pushy. She laughed at our jokes; if they were good, she laughed loudly. In 2020 at the age of 76, she bravely went public with her lifelong passion of writing poetry and began a weekly column in the LeRoy Leader. Her first year of poems was lovingly published into a book called Small Town, Big Heart: The Poetry and Musings of Sari Ellen Cimbalo. She was preceded in death by her parents Dorothy and Jacob Maurice "Maury" Bell, and a number of loved ones she is surely sharing a coffee with on the other side. She is survived by her husband of nearly 52 years (and they said it wouldn't last), George Cimbalo; daughter Amy Lehr and her husband Doug; daughter Jody Leng and her husband Ted; grandson Nick Lehr and granddaughters Becca Lehr, Daisy Leng and June Leng. To honor Sari's memory, we are holding a celebration of her life on Thursday, December 7, 2023 from 5-7:00 pm with a brief Catholic service to follow at 7:00 pm all at Calvert-Belangee-Bruce Funeral Home 101 W. Center St. LeRoy, IL 61752. We invite anyone who knew Sari to attend, share stories about her wonderful life, and enjoy the playlist that she proudly curated for this event. In lieu of sending flowers, we invite you to make a donation in her honor to the LeRoy Emergency Ambulance Service or the Crumbaugh Library.