Sara E. "Sally" Maxwell, Ph.D.

Passed away peacefully in her sleep on February 5th having been comforted by the love of family and many friends throughout her illness. Dr. Maxwell was born in Duquoin, Illinois January 23, 1941. She later attended grade school for some years in Evansville, Indiana after moving with her family to Casper, Wyoming for a short time, before returning to Duquoin, IL where she completed her high school education, excelling in her academic work and many extracurricular activities. In her senior year of high school, she won the first place award in a public speaking contest sponsored by the State of Illinois and a scholarship to Northwestern University's summer theatre program where she acted in the role of Emily in the famous play by Thorton Wilder, Our Town. In the fall of 1958, she enrolled in the Speech, Language, Hearing Pathology program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and went on to complete undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field of communication sciences and disorders and a Master's Equivalent in special education for learning disabled and emotionally disturbed children.

In 1967, Dr. Maxwell accepted a position in the Westwood, MA public schools where she worked for many years to become the Senior Speech and Language Pathologist, Director of the Early Preschool Language and Learning Early Intervention Program, and Counselor in the School Adjustment Program. During this time, she continued post graduate education at Boston Children's Hospital, Tufts New England Medical Center, Emerson College, and Harvard University. In the 1980s, she returned to graduate school at Boston College ultimately earning a masters and doctoral degree in the fields of developmental and counselling psychology. Her doctoral research was a longitudinal study of the predictors of reading achievement in preschool children. Her postdoctoral clinical work in psychology included appointments at South Shore Mental Health Center and South Coast Clinical Associates where she did psychodiagnostic testing, served as a member of a crisis intervention team, early intervention unit for families, school liaison for children, and respite care provider. In 1989, she moved to Fort Lauderdale Florida to be closer to family members where she continued an active professional life working in the schools, as a clinical consultant, and as a professor teaching doctoral students at Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Maxwell was a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Speech/Language/Hearing Association (ASHA), International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Council for Exceptional Children, American Psychological Association, American Association for Psychiatric Services to Children among others. She was a frequent presenter at professional conferences and was well known nationally and internationally for her publications on transdisciplinary models for diagnosis and remediation of speech, language, cognitive and emotional problems in children during their early development. She was the Chairperson for national committees including the National Committee on Speech, Language and Hearing Services in the Schools (ASHA).

Upon retiring, she moved to California where she enjoyed the company of other family including a son, grandchildren, and new friends. She loved attending church, walking her dogs, and visiting stables where she also made friends with several horses, feeding them apples on her frequent visits. She returned to MA two years ago where she lived with and was cared for throughout her health problems by her son Scott Maxwell and daughter-in-law Rhonda Maxwell until she passed away.

She was a kind and sensitive person who greatly enjoyed her professional work and generously gave of her love and devotion to family and friends. She leaves behind her daughter Lisa Maxwell and wife Christine, son Scott Maxwell and wife Rhonda, four grandchildren including Clayton and his wife Amy, Kristen, Scotty, and Satori Maxwell and two great great-grandchildren, Leilani and Logan Maxwell.

A memorial service and reception to follow will be held to honor her life on February 20th at 1 pm at North Community Church, 72 Old Main Street, Marshfield, MA 02050. In lieu of flowers, the Maxwell Family is requesting donations be made to Sally's favorite cause: MSPCA for animal safety and care. The link to donate is http://support.mspca.org/goto/SALLYMAXWELL