Sarah J. Selkirk

You cannot look back at my life and say something like she didn't live her life to the fullest. That statement would possibly be a bigger fallacy than what our government spews out. I have done so much living!

I have lived in so many ways - some possible, while others seemingly less than possible, but regardless, I have lived my life to the fullest extent, doing it my way, and am beyond proud of that! More importantly, I have loved this life that I've lived beyond my own comprehension at times, even the difficult times and when things have not gone according to plan.

Born as the eldest child to Diane & Tim McPherson on July 22, 1980, I came into the world a force to be reckoned with filled with ideas and opinions and thoughts from a young age that would continuously test a lot of the parameters of growing up and living in small town Otsego, Michigan.

Working my way through high school graduating in 1998 - I then advanced on to Western Michigan University where I found more like minded people on my life's journey while earning degrees in Art Education, English Education, & Women's Studies finally graduating in 2004. Later on I would not only put my education to good use helping to run Human Resources within our family plastics business, but also through homeschooling and being a literary advocate.

A bit later in life, I finally found the person I felt I could spend the rest of my life with, Marshall Selkirk. The truest love of my life. We got hitched our way on August 24 & 25, 2012. Just a couple years later came our greatest adventure ever - Estalynn Selkirk born in the comfort of our own home in 2014.

Over these years I've had many passions - the greatest being horseback riding. I did it all from riding Dressage, Eventing, Vaulting, and doing other disciplines for fun like Jumpers, Carriage Driving, Western, and Trail Riding. Along with the challenges of running my own horse business with training horses, doing rescue work, helping run horse farms, organizing horse shows, sitting on a board of directors, giving clinics, judging shows, and teaching a number of wonderful students over my years... but all of these things combined hold nothing to the brightness of becoming a horse "mom" watching our kiddo diligently make progress in the ring every week and becoming a young horse woman.

My other passions, aside from my family, included doing anything out of doors, hiking, being in the barn, campfires, reading, spending time with friends, cooking, thrifting, art, social justice, traveling, going on adventures, music and attending concerts, playing all sorts of games, books and literacy, embroidery, our rescue animals, talking about the perks of homeschooling, helping others, etc. Also watching my family live their passion of downhill ski racing too. Let us not forget my habit of being annoyingly optimistic about every scenario no matter how negative things looked to others because that was a passionate choice I made every single day.

Surviving is my incredible husband, Marshall Selkirk and my phenomenal daughter, Estalynn Selkirk. Parents - Tim & Diane McPherson. Brother - Mike McPherson (Melody). Nieces and nephews (Anna, Adam, Elise, Marty, Anastasia, & Luke). Along with numerous Aunts & Uncles, many, many cousins, and my in-laws side of our family.

Preceding me in my demise was my best friend, Erica Mitchell. Grandparents - Howard "Bud" & Esta DeGood and Bernard "Bud" & Hazel McPherson. Along with my Aunt Pauline Baldwin and my Uncles Bud & Roger McPherson.

I personally was stolen from this life earlier than any of us would have liked. I did not lose a battle with cancer, because that implies that there may have been a fair fight between two warring sides. There is nothing fair about cancer - especially ovarian cancer - and it most definitely does not play by the rules. I just had to get headed into the great unknown abyss of the universe a little too early.

Cremation has already taken place and a celebration of life will be held on a later date at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. In lieu of flowers or plants, please consider donating to a cause that would be of interest to me within your community or mine. If you need suggestions please consider donations to organizations like Christian Neighbors in Plainwell or an animal organization like Wishbone Rescue in Allegan or nature programming like at the Kalamazoo Nature Center or a organization that seeks to help include us all like OutFront in Kalamazoo. We have been blessed even in these challenging times - so please help us pass our many beautiful blessings onward to others.

Side Note...

In my family, I was always the one to be chosen to write the obituaries and eulogy speeches - so never doubt that I would leave the final words about my life's adventure to someone other than myself. Also everyone else would have utilized an insufficient number of words to try to encompass my life. I've done my best to live my journey out in the open and it is only fair that these be some of my final writings. Sorry - someone else or maybe many small someones are on the hook for my eulogy because I don't wish to put my words into someone else's mouth - just feels odd even thinking about that.