Sara Loving Williamson Sutherland

Sutherland, Sara Loving Williamson, a native of Bowling Green KY, died on February 5, 2010. Mrs. Sutherland was born in Bowling Green, on October 17, 1920 to the late George McKinley Williamson and Nan Loving Williamson. Mr. Williamson was the proprietor of the Mansard and Avalon Hotels. After completing high school at the Western Kentucky State Teachers College, Training School (College High) in 1938, Mrs. Sutherland attended the National Park College in Forest Glen, Maryland where she received an Associate of Arts degree in 1940. At National Park, she was a member of the Zeta Eta Theta social sorority. In 1940, she met Owen L. Sutherland, a George Washington University law student; they were married in Bowling Green on June 20, 1941. During World War II, she worked at the McDonnell-Douglas aircraft manufacturing plant in Los Angeles, California. This occurred while Mr. Sutherland served with the Air Transport Command in the Orient. He eventually retired from the army in 1956, as a Lieutenant Colonel. The Sutherlands lived in various locations in Western Europe and the Middle East during this period, finally returning to the United States in 1957. More permanent residences for them included Ann Arbor, Michigan beginning in 1960 and a transition to Winter Haven, Florida, which began in the late 1970s. Mr. Sutherland died in Ann Arbor in February 1983.
"Sara's" passions throughout her life were golf and duplicate bridge. Her golf was pursued with memberships at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor; the Bowling Green Country Club; and Lake Region Yacht and Country Club in Winter Haven. She participated in numerous national and regional duplicate bridge competitions eventually earning enough points to become a Life Master. Although she participated in several "bridge clubs" those were principally anchored with her membership in the Ann Arbor Women's City Club.
Her husband Owen, her son Owen Leroy "Lee" Sutherland Jr., and her brother George M. Williamson Jr. have preceded her in death. Surviving family members include her daughter, Nan Loving Sutherland Sierra, Sun Valley, Idaho, Grandchildren Robert Majerus, Billings, Montana, and Conchi Sierra, Boise, Idaho. Other surviving family members include her nephews George Williamson, Louisville Ky.; Craig Williamson, Knoxville, Tn; and Stuart Williamson, Pass Christian, Mississippi and her niece Margaret Williamson Cavitt, Owensboro, Ky. Visitation will begin at 1:30 p.m. and a memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at the State Street Methodist Church in Bowling Green. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery in Bowling Green. The family requests that memorials be in the form of donations to the First Tee of Owensboro, Ky.; PO Box 335; Owensboro, KY 42302.