Sarah Morrow Ketchum

Sarah always called her husband Kep or Keppey, an affectionate family nickname which he now goes by.

Sarah was a faithful, brilliant, eccentric, loving, intense, beautiful, complex and absolutely wonderful woman. She put Jesus first in everything she did, her faith being the fabric of her being. She was also known to her close family and friends as Aunt Sarah,“The Queen” or Mar Mar.

Sarah was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1953 at 1953 Honeysuckle Lane. Her mother, Elsa Morrow, awoke up from a nap in labor, and Sarah was born at home shortly after. She was very close with her father and mother, Thomas and Elsa Morrow, and is survived by her two siblings; Her older sister, Ruth Shriver and younger brother Thomas F. Morrow.

After attending Hanover College and thoroughly enjoying the experience, making many lifelong friends, Sarah moved to Indianapolis, where she was one of the very first women to sell life insurance for Mass Mutual. She then moved to New Jersey, where she worked in HR and conducted trainings for American Hospitals. She then continued her career in Chicago, working for Hyatt Hotels, as the corporate training director.

At the very the same time, her future husband was living and working in her hometown, and happened to also attend her parents church. He sang in the choir with her mother, Elsa, whom he befriended.

Elsa invited Larry to her husband’s 64th birthday party in Cincinnati, only two days before Larry was to move to Connecticut with Proctor and Gamble. He met Sarah there, and one could say that it was love at first sight. A long distance romance was sparked and they soon married on October 1, 1988.

The happy couple spent their first years as newlyweds in Connecticut. While 4 months pregnant with their first daughter, Sarah and Larry took a big leap and moved to Hong Kong, China, for Larry to pursue an overseas position with P&G! Sarah started her own very successful management training and sales consulting business called Morrow Training International. Only a few months later, she gave birth to their first daughter, Laura Vaughan.

Two years later and halfway through her second pregnancy with their daughter, Elsa Claire, the family moved to Taiwan, where Sarah’s training business flourished. In 1996, Larry, Sarah and the girls moved back to Sarah’s hometown, Cincinnati, where she started a custom clothing business for executive women called “Wise Wear Designs.” She designed, created and sewed beautiful clothing sets and tunics (which she called “tunicas”).

She also sewed a myriad of beautiful goods for their home, including drapes, pillows, sofa covers, bedding, and matching outfits for her girls, complete with coordinating scrunchies.

The family then began their next adventure and moved to New Jersey in 2002. As the girls began school and were involved in many extra curricular activities, Sarah pursued her other passion of volunteer work. She spent years working with Market Street Mission in Morristown, a Christ based recovery program. She loved her time there, teaching the men in recovery life skills, helping to prepare them for the workforce with interview coaching and ample tutoring services for a multitude of subjects. She became a beloved part of the education team there and was referred to as “Queen Sarah.” In Hebrew, the name Sarah means “princess,” “noble woman” or “lady of high rank.” After her life experience and raising her two daughters, her community embraced her “graduation” to Queen. She embraced this fun position of honor fully- even knighting the men of the Market Street Mission, giving them crowns when they too graduated from the program.

Queen Sarah was a faithful attender of the annual Dominican Republic mission trips with Hope Church. She formed close bonds with everyone she encountered, many of whom she kept in touch with for years later, dubbing them brothers and sisters. Later, she began teaching ESL with a Spanish speaking church, and additionally, she began connecting with a myriad of people organically in Target, Walmart or Aldi, inviting them over for free ESL lessons in her home.

Sarah unfortunately endured difficult battles with illnesses and experienced a significant decline in health over the last few years of her life. Despite the hardship, Sarah remained strong and steadfast, often putting others before herself. She lovingly shared the love of Jesus with everyone she met.

She was extremely intelligent, with a rich, vast vocabulary that made her an excellent writer. She instilled these skills in her daughters, spending hours at the kitchen table helping to edit papers, projects and college essays, instilling in them her strong writing skills and imbuing her knowledge upon them. For that they are forever grateful.

Sarah was a woman of her word, and a confidant, always offering advice, love and a listening ear. She was well known for befriending people everywhere, and conducting what she called the “4 Minute interview.” With genuine curiosity and care, many of those she met would feel comfortable to tell her their entire life story. She made many lasting friendships and meaningful connections this way. She was always buying gifts, sending encouraging notes and sending funds to those she loved in secret. She was truly the embodiment of a Proverbs 31 woman.

Sarah was a strong believer in Jesus as her Savior, and it brings her loved ones immense comfort, knowing with certainty that she’s in heaven, and more alive than she’s ever been. She is free from her arduous journey of suffering and pain, completely alive in Christ.

We are now celebrating two new lives — Sarah’s new life in heaven, and the upcoming birth of her first grandchild. Her eldest daughter Laura and her husband Isaac will be welcoming a baby girl in late September.

Her family will be holding A Celebration of Life in honor of Sarah’s memory at Hope Church on Saturday April 25, 2026 at 10:30 am at Hope Presbyterian Church, 658 Millbrook Ave, Randolph Township, NJ 07869. This will coincide with Sarah‘s birthday week, as her family always loved to celebrate her with a weeklong “Birthday Festival.” It feels only fitting to keep the tradition alive.

Sarah was deeply loved and will be dearly missed, but her legacy will carry on far into the future. We look forward to commemorating her memory and her beautiful life with all of you.

Sarah is survived by her husband, Lawrence Mitchell Ketchum, her eldest daughter, Laura Ketchum Niblack, son-in-law, Isaac David Niblack, and youngest daughter Elsa Claire Ketchum.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Sarah's memory may be made to World Vision’s Child Protection Fund, World Vision, Inc. at P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, Washington 98063 US, https://share.google/yakl2QRHreUCGCJlD.