Sarah Verret Kalinoski, 90, beloved mother and grandmother, longtime history teacher, extraordinary quilter, and devoted volunteer, died Nov. 24, 2024. She died of natural causes at her home in Shelburne after a short illness.

Sally, as she was called by virtually everyone who knew her, married Thomas Kalinoski on Memorial Day 1953 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington. Together, they had five children, Gregory (wife Ann), Catherine (Joseph), Thomas (Annette), Amy (Matthew), and Jane (Steve).

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1967. At the age of 33 with only a high school diploma and five children ranging in age from 3 to 13, Sally moved the family from Montpelier to Shelburne to be closer to her parents, who lived right around the corner from her new home.

To support her children and herself, Sally worked part-time for her father at A. Verret and Sons on Shelburne Road, a family owned grocery store. She had started college a year before her husband's death, and earned a bachelor's degree in education from Trinity College, summa cum laude, and a master's in history, cum laude, from the University of Vermont within five years of his death. Her master's thesis was on Vermont history and the Revolutionary War.

Known as Mrs. K, she began teaching at Burlington High School in 1972, where she also volunteered as a choreographer and costume maker for dozens of dramatic productions. She also gave her time at the St. Michael's College Playhouse, and volunteered her children for roles as well.

Thanks to her love of history and theater, and high standards she set for herself and her students, she was known as a diligent instructor, a strong motivator, and an inspiring mentor. She retired from BHS in 2000.

Her teaching career included summer work leading Vermont Transit bus tours across New England, Quebec, and the Canadian Maritimes, explaining local history and managing busloads of tourists.

Incredibly independent right up until her death, Sally taught her children the importance of a strong work ethic, charity, frugality, taking personal responsibility for oneself and one's family, and a clear sense of right and wrong.

She was an avid volunteer with the Vermont Retired Educators Association and the VREA's Chittenden County Chapter, where she was unit director, re-elected at age 90 to a three-year term earlier this year. She was also a longtime member of Vermont Delta Kappa Gamma's Alpha Chapter, serving as secretary, treasurer, and president. She received the Alpha Golden Needle Award in 1996, Woman of Distinction Award in 2004, and the Vermont Achievement Award in 2022.

Never one to sit still, if Sally was home and wasn't eating or sleeping, she was invariably sewing, knitting, or quilting. Sally made most of her own and her children's clothes by hand in the '60s and '70s, and became an avid knitter and quilter, creating thousands of items for family, friends, and charities.

Her quilts, in particular, became treasured gifts destined to be handed down for generations, most of them made up of thousands of individual pieces, each of them sewn together and quilted by hand.

She donated hundreds of quilts to the Vermont Chapter of Project Linus, which distributed them to children through hospitals, shelters, and social service agencies. She also made and donated many quilts and other gifts to the Saint Joseph's Home in Burlington and St. Catherine of Siena Church in Shelburne; hundreds of hats and mittens to people in need through DKG, local schools, and her church; and dresses for children in Haiti.

Sally volunteered relentlessly right up until her death. She volunteered for many years at the Shelburne Polls, weekly at the Pierson Library.

Her Catholic faith was a centerpiece of her life, and for at least the past 20 years she opened St. Catherine's Church every morning and closed it every evening without fail. She delivered communion to shut-ins as recently as early November; cleaned and ironed vestments and related materials for the church; served as lector and eucharistic minister; and served mass daily, as well as dozens of funerals each year.

She was born Aug. 3, 1934 in Burlington, Vt., the daughter of Omer and Marie Verret.

She is survived by her children and nine grandchildren, Christopher (Tara), Eliza, Sarah (Nick), Joseph (Bo), Emily (Noelle), Tommy (Megan), Joshua (Jessica), Nathan (Maggie), and Daniel (Bethany); two sisters, Nancy Kneen (John) of Belvidere and Lucienne Miller of Nashville, Tenn.; and a sister-in-law, Carolyn Verret of Saint Paul, Minn.

She is also survived by 11 great-grandchildren, Elsie, Jeanne, Theo, Declan, Alex, Abigail, Ethan, Jude, Charlie, Benjamin, and Lucy, and many nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and -nephews.

In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by brothers Paul and Alex, her sister Jane, brothers-in-law David Roberts and Ron Miller, and sister-in-law Laurette Verret.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Shelburne at 10 a.m. on Saturday, December 7, the Rev. Dwight Baker presiding. Interment will follow later on Saturday at 2:00pm at Resurrection Park Cemetery in South Burlington.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Sally's memory may be made to the Pierson Library or St. Catherine of Siena Church. There will be no calling hours.