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Sally Fairbank
Oct. 28, 1954 - Aug. 8, 2013
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Sally Fairbank was born on October 28, 1954 in Visalia, California.  She grew up on a ranch in Turlock, CA and attended school there.  Sally had three children: Brandon and his wife, Becka, along with her two children, Cameron and Abby; Nancy and her son, Max; and Clayton and his wife, Elizabeth.  While living in Turlock she was involved in numerous organizations from President of the Garden Club, member of the Turlock Horse Club, and an Awana Leader at Monte Vista Chapel. She was a passionate singer and once performed at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville, and after moving to Bainbridge was a regular at the Pub Open Mic on Tuesday nights.  Upon moving to Bainbridge in 1990, she opened Pastiche Antiques on Winslow Way and became involved in various community efforts from garden club, Farmer’s Market, Young Life and always her music and art.  In 2003, Sally went to work for Fairbank Construction Company where she was the office manager.  In 2005, she married Tad Fairbank and they spent their honeymoon cruising in Canada on their boat for three weeks.  During her past eight years, Sally joined her husband on a sailboat racing team and traveled to Florida numerous times for regattas as well as San Francisco. Sally quickly became known for her aggressive hiking abilities as well as the one who went below to pull the spinnaker down while being tossed about in the midst of numerous boats.  Her witty/salty comments when ascending from the “pit” will be remembered by crew members for many years.  During this time she also took up golf and soon found it to be her greatest passion.  She and Tad traveled to courses all over the US and enjoyed meeting new people and they quickly found a new friend in Sally.  When at home she maintained her role as one of the managers at the company and provided much of the soul that the Fairbank office became known for.  She and Tad became very involved in New Life Church and were active in leadership roles there. While her life was full and rich, the last 15 years of her life were also spent fighting stage four breast cancer.  She was determined not to be a victim and simply scheduled her treatments around sailing regattas and golf as wells as her regular trips to Turlock. As recently as last summer, she would take some Advil and head over to Wing Point to play, yet, one more round of golf.  During her last year as the cancer progressed, she never complained and managed to stay engaged with friends and family and always maintained her zest for life and friends.On August 8th, 2013, Sally finally succumbed to the battle with cancer, but not before seeing her son, Clayton, marry his fiancé, Elizabeth, in her hospital room at Swedish Hospital.  Her funeral service will take place in Turlock, CA and there will be a celebration of her life on Bainbridge sometime in September.  A notice will be sent out announcing the date. Please sign the online Guest Book for the family and get the service updateat: www.cookfamilyfuneralhome.com.