Sally Ann (Minard) Decker, of Claremont, New Hampshire, died quietly while sleeping in her bed at the Elm Wood Center in Claremont after a gradual decline in health over the past year. Her last day was April 12th, 2026.

She was born 84 years ago, on February the 1st, 1942, into a house full of music. Her father George Minard (decd) and Margaret (Gowdy) Minard (decd) raised her and her brother Dick (decd) and sister Bonnie (86) with love and music. Sally delighted in playing the cello and the piano. She sometimes smiled and said she wished her fingers were longer so that she could play the arrangements she loved.

Her small 5'2" stature was no obstacle to winning the NH state diving championship representing Stevens High School of Claremont, NH where she graduated as part of the class of 1960. In her early life she worked as a dental hygienist and she worked at a school for deaf children at a Crotched Mountain facility in NH. As she would often say though, all she ever wanted to be was a wife and mother.

Making a home for two boys, Mark Decker (51) and Eric Decker (55) and their father James Decker (decd) was her true passion. She taught them the piano and passed on the family love of music, which Mark shared, later becoming a DJ and a radio host before joining the Army. The family three played many board games almost every evening. After devouring the instruction manuals for dozens of these games and examining how all the pieces fit together, Eric went on to become a computer engineer.

As the boys went off into the world, Sally worked as a file clerk for the NH State Department of Health and Human Services, which had supported her as she raised the boys as a single parent. She would sometimes scold her coworkers when the manilla folders were not returned to the proper tray as she diligently kept all the information in its proper place.

A debilitating stroke ended her working days in disability, but she lived independently in her Claremont apartment for as long as she possibly could. She eventually, reluctantly, moved into the Elm Wood Center long term nursing wing where she could get the living assistance that she required.

She was sustained by frequent visits with her devoted and loving sister Marilyn (Bonnie) Gagne and sporadic phone calls and visits from the boys who would tell her stories of their adventures. The boys now live in Austin, Texas, where Mark has children and grandchildren of his own. When Sally wasn't occupied with visitors, the familiar theme music of old TV programs like Gunsmoke and the Golden Girls could be heard from her room as she fought to see through her untreatable cataracts to circle words in her latest puzzle book.

After defying doctor's expectations year after year, she finally heard her last music at the start of her 84th New England springtime, in a town called Claremont, leaving a comfortable groove like the one in her favourite chair where she sat and watched her TV and listened to her music.

Donations can be made to the Seven Hills Foundation, which supports struggling families. https://sevenhills.networkforgood.com/projects/173750-answer-the-call-to-care

A graveside service will be held on Monday, April 20th at 2PM at the West Claremont Burying Grounds (Union Cemetery) in Claremont, NH. a reception will follow at 14 Shorewood Estates Road, Newport, NH 03773.