Sally Witte

Sally passed away on December 26, 2025 after a year of ongoing heart problems. She handled her health issues with toughness and good humor.

Sally always loved animals. She had a pet fox named Edgar and favorite pet chicken as a child and always had dogs and cats and horses wherever she lived.

In January of 1974, she met Rick Sommerfeld and they got married in August of that year. They were together for 52 years and never argued or had "fights".

Sally and Rick had two daughters, Heather and Shannon. Sally was a great mother and helped her daughters develop into educated, industrious, and caring people. Heather has 2 children, Ayla and Sebestyen, and Shannon has 3 children, Violet, Ophelia, and Edison. Ayla has 2 children, Aurora and Arya. Sally loved all of these people and would do anything they needed.

In the time prior to her death, Sally had one dog, Ivy, a cat Zelda (ZZ), and two horses, Sophie and Pepper. She spent hours a day caring for these animals and doing everything she could to give them good lives.

Following high school, Sally attended University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. She eventually got an English degree, one of her passions. She also attended the RN program at Chippewa Valley Technical College and was in the first graduating class in that program! As a nurse, she worked at 3 different hospitals, worked in Home Care, and worked as a Hospice Nurse. During this time, she got certified in several specialty areas, including Pain Management, Chemotherapy, and Enterostomal Therapy. She also became interested in Massage Therapy and became licensed through a challenging program. Her goal was always to "be therapeutic" and was sometimes able to combine Massage with Nursing.

Sally loved gardening and spent the last years of her life trying to raise "sweet" onions, a goal that always eluded her! She was also very good at growing tomato plants in hay or straw bales. She started many plants in small pots in the house under a grow light, and would transplant them to the garden.

One of her quirks was accumulating stuff in what she referred to as "her piles". As we look through those piles now, it is amazing to find out the stuff she saved, usually stuff that had meaning to her.

Sally's husband, Rick, misses her terribly.

There will be a Memorial Service at Stokes, Prock, and Mundt Funeral Chapel and Crematory (Altoona) on January 4, 2026. Visitors are welcome from 1 - 4 pm, and there will be an informal ceremony about 2:30. In lieu of flowers, any donations will be given to the Eau Claire County Humane Society.