Obituary of Rachel Ann Sailer

Passed away on October 7, 2024, at the age of 73. She was a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Born May 26, 1951, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, she was the loving daughter of Charles and Sarah (Thomas) Pinkham.

Rachel led a rich life as an actor, director, teacher, friend, mother, and wife. After catching the acting bug playing Helen Keller in her Girl Scout troop’s rendition of The Miracle Worker, she went on to study drama at the University of Northern Iowa, where she met her future husband and fellow drama student, John Sailer. They moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where they worked for The Des Moines Community Playhouse; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Silver Spring, Maryland, where they worked at the University of Maryland and met some of their closest friends; and eventually Roanoke, Virginia, where she became a beloved drama teacher at Salem High School. There, she directed over sixty plays, including favorites like The Music Man, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, The Diviners, The Insect Comedy, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and The Sound of Music, and touched the lives of countless students. Near her retirement, she returned to acting with Off the Rails Theatre Company, playing the parts of Dorothea in Eleemosynary, Cassandra in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and Amelia Tilford in The Children’s Hour, and directed the company’s 2018 production of The Laramie Project. After her husband John passed away in 2015, she reconnected with Peter Barber, an old friend from their Des Moines days, and they married in 2019. Together, they enjoyed traveling to the West and Florida every year, watching the Iowa Hawkeyes, seeing their weekly happy hour group, and welcoming their first grandchild, John.

Preceded in death by her husband John Sailer.

Survived by her husband Peter Barber of Minneapolis, her children Amy and Jacob Sailer, her brothers Neil and Tom Pinkham, and her grandson, John.

A celebration of life will be held in Spring 2025 in Minneapolis.