Sally Sue Omo
July 15, 1942 - July 5, 2025
Obituary
Sally Sue (Burns) Omo
Sally Sue (Burns) Omo passed away Saturday, July 5, 2025, just shy of her 83rd birthday. She was born on July 15, 1942, in Ketchikan, the Territory of Alaska, to Robert and Lauretta Burns.
Sally leaves behind her two children Lissa of Puyallup, WA and Michael of Tucson, AZ, and three grandchildren Samantha, Mark, and Scott, and her beloved cat Charlie. She also leaves behind her brother Fred, of Sandpoint, ID, and extended family sister-in-law Lillian, brother-in-law Dickie of Ventura, CA and brother-in-law Manuel, of California City, CA. She was predeceased by her loving husband Larry.
In life, Sally was a beloved wife, devoted mother, and homemaker extraordinaire. Between 7th and 8th grade, Sally’s family moved from Ketchikan to Oxnard, CA where she graduated from Oxnard High in 1960. Then she earned an associate’s degree in business. On March 16, 1963, Sally married her high school sweetheart, Larry William Omo and was happily married for the next 54 years. Together they traveled with the USAF around the United States and Pacific Rim, and eventually retired in Puyallup, WA.
Sally followed Larry throughout his USAF career with a pioneering spirit, to distant lands and foreign cultures, willing to try just about anything. She enjoyed experimenting with the crafts of the culture applying her hands to silk ribbon sewing of the Philippines, Ikebana flower arranging and artificial bonsai tree sculpture of Japan. Sally especially excelled at cake decorating, sewing, and quilting. When her children were young, she decorated all their birthday cakes, sewed their clothes, Halloween costumes, doll clothes, Barbie clothes, and many stuffed toys. Sally even sewed Lissa’s wedding dress and created her wedding cake. Sally also enjoyed knitting afghans for our beds, crewel stitching pictures for our walls, but her favorite was quilting. When the time came, Sally was a scout leader for both Lissa and Michael, an avid fan at their basketball games, marching band parades, band concerts, wrestling matches, and football games. Mom and Dad never missed the opportunity to cheer us on. During this busy time of family life, Sally worked outside the home at various part-time jobs, as the need or desire arose, as an associate at JCPenney, an H&R Block consultant, and an associate at Target.
Sally had other interests as well. She was a member of the McChord Chapel worshiping community, the McChord Chapel Quilters, and the Heritage Quest Research Library of Sumner, to name just a few. Inspired by the TV mini-series “Roots,” she became a dedicated genealogist tracing our family roots on both sides of the family. While volunteering at the Heritage Quest Research Library, Sally served the Puyallup-Sumner Genealogy group for three years by leading the monthly meetings, suggesting topics for the group members to research and report back the following month, encouraging best research practices, and inspiring the writing of one’s memoirs.
Sally lived a long and full life. She experienced an adventurous childhood, enjoyed a long, happy marriage, and created a loving home. Sally also loved and embraced her family relationships and friendships that proved both rich and meaningful. Toward the end of her life, she suffered from Alzheimer’s, which robbed her of all that she loved and enjoyed. Please join us for her Celebration of Life on Saturday, July 26, 2025, to help us remember all that she could not.