Sara Ann
Kaster

October 14, 1977 –
October 20, 2016

Sara Ann Kaster, 39, passed away peacefully in her Eugene home on October 20th after battling cancer for nearly five years. Sara was a nurse at Eugene Pediatric Associates. She is survived by her husband Eric and four children: Carly (14), Kayla (11), Rocco (9) and Riggins (4). She is also survived by her parents, Doug and Kathy Nelson, and her brother and sister-in-law, Todd and Sara Nelson, and their children: Adelyn (13) and Andrew (6), all of Eugene. 

I give this tribute with a heart that deeply mourns Sara’s loss. None of us who knew her will ever forget that little girl with the white blonde hair and long skinny legs. As an adult, Sara lovingly and tirelessly nurtured her children (Sara had always wanted a lot of kids) and those she served as a nurse. She was taken from us too soon, and is missed by so many. At this time of thanksgiving I am thankful to have known her.

Even as a little girl, Sara was wrapped in an aura of kindness and warmth. Her smile lit up whatever room she was in. It exuded cheerfulness, that smile.  You couldn’t spend time with Sara and not feel more positive about things. She radiated hopefulness through her sincere joy of living.

It seems like only yesterday when she and her brother ran down the shores of Lake Billie Chinook with our own children. They’d float on rafts beneath the hot sun without a care in the world. Life is made up of moments. Who would ever have thought those summer vacations our families spent together would one day be golden memories, shimmering brightly in the sands of bittersweet time?

Sara had the gentlest of souls. Goodness sparkled in her eyes like mischief might in others. There is something to the expression that the good die young. Perhaps Sara earned her angel wings in half the time it takes the rest of us. Perhaps God needed her somewhere else, for a task only she could perform.

It is sad that we could not hold her here to fill our earthly arms and that her four children will grow up, not just without a mother, but without a mother who was phenomenal at the task.

Perhaps Sara is light-worlds away championing the weak or needy, just as she did on earth. As full of light and love as ever, but no longer afflicted with a diseased body. Instead, perhaps she is strong and razor focused on her new, knightly endeavors in that next realm.

We will think of her every time we see a shooting star or a full moon. We will know that she is out there somewhere in a faraway world. Perhaps one day we will visit that next world ourselves. Then once again we will see that smile and it will be exactly as we remembered it. Alas, we will smile back and ask Sara how she’s been, and if she’s glanced down upon her loved ones from time to time between battles anew, wrapping them in her unseen arms of complete and utter love.

Oh what a tale she will tell when we meet again. It will be a story for all ages… and one, I daresay, we will listen to around a campfire that crackles and glows with merriment. Much like the campfires our families shared all those years ago on vacations at Cove Palisades. In the meantime our hearts and minds will never forget Sara. We will always think of her when we see a star dancing in the night sky.

We will think about how she is out there, somewhere over the moon, sending kisses on the wind to her children’s cheeks as they sleep.

Click this link to read more about Sara Kaster.