Hedges ‘loved Cedar Rapids’ Volunteer, devoted mother died in August at 88

By Francie Williamson, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Sally Stamats Hedges loved to have fun.

'She loved to tell stories. She was always so genuine. People would say ‘she's such a character,' said her son, Tom.

Hedges' son and daughter, Sally Richardson, said in an interview their mother had fun, right up to the end.

Sally Stamats Hedges died Aug. 24 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. She was 88.

In her final days, Richardson said, Hedges was 'fabulous.”

'She had a resurgence of energy,” Richardson said. 'I was going to have a tea party for her closest friends the day she died and she died that morning.”

Hedges 'loved Cedar Rapids,” her son said. 'She never wanted to leave it. She had a loving family and an incredibly neat life here.”

Hedges was born July 17, 1926, to Herbert and Isabel Stamats. Her parents, who were friends of Grant Wood, asked the artist to paint a portrait of their daughter at the age of 14 months.

In 'This is Grant Wood Country,” by Joan Liffring-Zug, Isabel Stamats said of the portrait, 'When we asked Grant Wood in 1927 to paint our 14-month-old daughter Sally, he was reluctant. He told us this would be his first oil portrait. When he finally agreed to paint Sally, the financial arrangement was interesting. Grant said, ‘If I let you have it, the cost will be $25. If you like it very well, $50. If I like it, $75. We paid $75 and he wanted the portrait sent to Chicago for framing. The company there wanted to buy it and the framing bill came to $100.”

Wood also painted 'Overmantel” in 1930 as a surprise gift for Isabel Stamats. Stamats told Liffring-Zug, 'The painting shows Herbert on a horse, and I am pushing Peter in a baby buggy with Sally beside me. Our home on Linden Drive is in the background.”

The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art now owns 'Overmantel” and 'Portrait of Sally.” Her children said Sally Hedges was very proud to be featured in the paintings.

'Until she died, she was the only one alive who he did portraits of,” her son said. 'She remembered Grant Wood from when her mother invited him over. She remembered his round cherubic face and spectacles and that he was such a nice, friendly man.”

Her children said Hedges was very close to her mother and father, the founder of Stamats Communications.

'She was the chosen child of her father. She was intimidated by him but she also worshipped him,” Richardson said. 'She grew up in a privileged way, but she appreciated that.”

Growing up, Hedges spent many summers in Michigan, and graduated from the University of Michigan. In 1948, she married Horace 'Fed” Hedges, who was three years older and whom she had known growing up in Cedar Rapids.

The couple lived in a small ranch house until 1952, when they moved into a home on Linden Drive. They had four children: Tom, Sally, Nancy and Mary.

'Close to the end, she could still tell you how to get to Linden Drive,” Richardson said.

In a 1962 Gazette profile, Hedges said liked to be at home.

'I like to cook. I like to entertain. Really all I do is keep house and run after children,” she said.

Richardson said her mother loved animals and babies, and loved to dance.

Aside from caring for her family, Hedges was an active volunteer, with Junior League, the free health clinic and Jane Boyd Community Center. She also loved the Paramount Theatre and attending performances of Theatre Cedar Rapids, which her mother, a former actress in Boston, helped start.

Richardson said it was very hard for her mother when Fed Hedges died in 1990, and 'she never entirely recovered from that.”

'She told me ‘it's a couple's world,” Richardson said. 'He went at such a early age.”

In her later years, Hedges lived on Rosedale Road, near her son. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2006.

'She went quietly. She sort of slipped away,” Richardson said. 'But until the very end, she knew us. She'd give us a little smile and her eyes would sparkle.”

Richardson said their mother did not like people to make a fuss over her, and would want to be remembered as a funloving person who loved her family and friends.

'She was the belle of the ball,” Richardson said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8502; francie.williamson@thegazette.com