Sarilee Naomi Theriot

Sarilee Naomi Theriot went to a better place at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 1, 2022. She suffered from dementia.

Sarilee loved, and loved large. She loved her family. She loved cats. She loved helping people, and would give her last dime to anyone who needed it. She was, her father said accurately, “such a pretty thing,” a blue-eyed blonde who put the “glam” in glamour and was as smart and talented as she was beautiful. She was the president of the Service Club at Will Rogers Elementary, graduated from Robert E. Lee High School, and worked at USAA while attending San Antonio College. She excelled at tap dance after taking lessons as a child, and in her forties, she demonstrated her skills on a tabletop at Mi Tierra and brought down the house. She could ski, swim, sew, garden, and paint fetching pictures. She had fun, and lots of it.

She married and moved to Houston, where she was a student at the University of Houston, then returned to San Antonio, where she did volunteer work for many organizations, including her church and the Democratic Party. She was a very active volunteer for the latter organization and the only Democrat in her immediate family, which led to considerable drama during dinners at the Theriot house. Her nephew—who was selected by Barack Obama as a presidential fellow after law school and, like all Theriots, can argue with a fence post—would side with her, and her father declared a rule that politics could not be discussed at the dinner table, though the rule was dropped when things became too quiet. Sarilee dreamed of living in her childhood home following her retirement, and she did as she dreamed. Her father bought her a much nicer home in the Oak Hills area, but she chose to remain where her surroundings evoked fond memories. She had a huge heart to the end, and bore her illness with great strength.

She is preceded in death by an infant daughter, Sarah Kay; her father, Grover E. Theriot; her mother and stepfather, Mildred Naomi and Ray Haney; and her grandparents, Naomi and Furman Lamb. She is survived by her beau, the love of her life, Rex Hill; her stepmother, Virginia Theriot; her sister and brother-in -law, Kay and Dr. Michael K. Cole, and their son, Elliot Cole, JD, and his wife, Annie; her brother, Franklin Edwards III, and his wife, Cindy; her aunt and uncle, Sandra and Robert Goad; and numerous, much-loved nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Internment was private. There will be a celebration of her life at a later date; please leave a note on the online visitation page if you would like to attend. Contributions can made to the Grover Theriot foundation, Veterans and Pets. Please feel free to visit the GoFundMe created for Sarilee, this money goes to help veterans, with financial aid for their pets.