Sally Ann Waitley, 56 of Waleska, passed away on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. A Celebration of life service will be held at 1:00PM Saturday May 6, 2023 from the Roswell Presbyterian Church at 755 Mimosa Blvd., Roswell, GA 30075. A reception will follow 2:25PM - 3:15PM at the church. An after reception gathering will be held in downtown Roswell for those that would like to join the family 3:30PM - 5:00PM. The location will be announced at the service.

Sally grew up in a career Navy family with her mom (Freida), dad (John), and brother (Johnny) that took her from Jacksonville FL as an infant to Maryland, then to Hawaii in the grade school years and then back to Maryland before landing in Carmel Indiana for her jr high and high school years. Her father John and mother Freida instilled foundational family values along the way that would later become the cornerstone of who Sally became as a friend, wife, and mother. Growing up, her summers were spent at grandma Thelma's house on lake Simonton in Elkhart, Indiana where those values were reinforced and a lifelong friendship began with Robin Anderson, the first constant lifelong friend growing up as a child. Despite the rigors of Navy life and moving from location to location, she could always count on Robin to be there. She blossomed into the teen years in Carmel Indiana, attending Clay Jr High and Carmel High school. This is where she met Toni Lipps and later Kerrie Doran, two important friendships that would also prove to be lifelong. She went on to attend Purdue University and after graduation returned to Carmel and worked in the travel agency business.

She met the love of her life, Mike Waitley, innocently at a skating party hosted by many of her Carmel high school hockey alums, which Mike was playing with at the time. They married in 1991 in Indianapolis. Business took them from Indianapolis to Southern California, then to Plano Texas and Wheaton/Glen Ellyn Illinois, before a job transfer took them to Columbus Ohio. They finally had an opportunity to "move south" to Roswell Georgia before settling down for the children's school age years.

Sally lit up a room the moment she entered. Ever humble, never announcing herself with much fan fare, she was self-less, always thinking of the others around her before her own needs and wants.

She was honored to be a dedicated wife and spouse and reveled in her duties as a loving mother of three children, Scott(28), Matt(26), and Gwen(22) and also taking in a niece, Dani(30), when Dani's father was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. Sally's relationship with Dani grew to a special and loving mother-daughter relationship over the years.

She loved attending the kids activities, from hockey games, rowing regattas, and ballet recitals. Sally took great joy in hosting her kids friends and being the "fun house" where they wanted to gather. She loved getting to know what was going on in their lives as well as feeding them which is why many of them referred to Sally as their second mom.

Other than being with family, there was no happier place for Sally than in her garden. She would spend all day planning and planting in the yard. Her favorite outing was on Mother's Day where the kids would join her at the nursery picking out plants and flowers to later be planted with everyone's help. She could walk through the garden years later and recite without hesitation each plant and which child picked it out.

Sally always had a vision for things;her garden, the landscaping, decorating, home improvements. That vision was well implanted in her mind way before others saw it, many of which could only understand what she meant after the project was done.

Her biggest dream was to live on a lake some day, which came true when they found Lake Arrowhead in north Georgia in 2018. Living on the lake fulfilled that dream that she experienced so early in life at her grandmothers lakefront home in Indiana.

What she didn't expect, was finding a community that embraced her and her family, it also grew to be a place that formed unbreakable bonds of friendship through worship, camaraderie and deep love. From floating in the cove to game night with the "girls" and drinks on the dock, Sally truly found her happy place with her happy people. She was home.

She is survived by:
Husband - Mike Waitley of Waleska
Father - John E. (Linda) Williams of LeCanto, FL.
Son - Scott (Maggie) Waitley of Anacortes, WA. one grandson on the way,
Son - Matt Waitley of Atlanta
Daughter - Gwen Waitley of Canton
Brother - Johnny (Tabitha) Williams of Long Beach, CA.
Step-Brother - Charlie Hotchkiss of FL.
Step-Brother - Philip (Lori) Hotchkiss of GA.
Step-Brother - Sam (Karin) Hotchkiss of FL.
Step-Sisters - Ana (Paul) Veldboom, FL and Lisa (Ivan)Trofimtchouk, FL
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Red Cross and direct your donation to "Services to the Armed Forces" in Sally Waitley's name.
Donate Here: https://www.redcross.org/donate/help-military-families.html/
The caring staff of Darby Funeral Home is honored to serve the Waitley Family.