Our good friend, Sarah Hogan, has died and everyone in the Palladium family is feeling the loss. Sarah was a Palladium regular – and a real fan of the jazz shows our Side Door Cabaret. She was normally sitting at a high top table in back with her pal, Winnie Howell. I’m sure she would have been in the Side Door next week for one or both of our jazz shows with Nate Najar and La Lucha.
I knew Sarah through music – she was a board member of the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association – and I saw her at all their gatherings. Bette Gregg, who worked with Sarah on the Al Downing board, was on the phone today, still in shock by the sudden passing of her friend.
Sarah was with her children on the Atlantic Coast, seemingly healthy and happy, and going off to change into her bathing suit for a swim, when she was stricken. She died later in the hospital.
It is always fascinating to read an obituary of someone you think you know very well. You always find out how little you really know about people. Reading Sarah’s obit in the Times today I found out about her environmental causes – particularly Tampa Bay Watch. Her studies at Vassar College. The Master’s Degree she earned later in life from the University of South Florida.
No date has been set for a memorial service. For now, her family is asking that any donations be made in Sarah’s memory to Tampa Bay Watch – tampabaywatch.org.
We’ll take a moment to honor her memory at the start of our two jazz shows on July 11 and July 13. And we’ll all wish she was still here – smiling at us from a high-top table in the back.
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