She was born on March 13, 1965, in Santa Barbara, California, the youngest of Jose and Frances Garcia’s six children. After graduating from Santa Barbara High School, she met missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and got baptized. She threw herself into her new faith with all her heart. In 1986-1987 she served as a missionary in the Peru Trujillo mission, where she baptized many people and had many transformative spiritual experiences.

She returned to the United States and, on August 12, 1988, married Brian Harker in the Los Angeles Temple. They moved to Provo, Utah, to attend Brigham Young University. A month later Sally was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease. While enduring months of radiation therapy she attended classes, and, at night, worked as a Spanish teacher and shift trainer at the Missionary Training Center. After a year of treatments she was declared free of cancer. She graduated in Family Science in 1991.

In the fall of 1992 Brian and Sally moved to New York City, where Brian pursued a PhD in music history and Sally supported the family by working as an executive assistant on Wall Street. She quickly earned the trust of her employers and was promoted to higher levels of responsibility and compensation. A year after her arrival in the city, she was called to be the Stake Relief Society President of the Manhattan Stake. This was a huge responsibility for a 28-year-old, but she rose to the challenge and won the loyalty and affection of those who worked with her.

In 1996 she gave birth to her first son, Daniel, whom she called her a “miracle baby” because she had been afraid cancer treatments had made her infertile. That year the family returned to Utah so Brian could take a job at BYU. They moved into a little house in North Orem and settled into a new ward and stake. Sally served faithfully in various callings — Relief Society President, Primary President, Gospel Doctrine Teacher. In 1998 she gave birth to a second son, Robbie, and he and his brother became Sally’s dominant focus, her pride and joy.

When Daniel turned five, Sally decided to home school her children. She turned the basement into a school room, bought books galore, and drilled the boys in their studies. In 2005 Brian took a sabbatical in New York City and the whole family moved back east for a period of six months. During this time, while Brian did research, Sally escorted their sons to historical sites and museums from New York to Boston, and from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. It was a rich and exciting time for the whole family.

In 2009 the Harkers moved into a larger home close to good schools. Sally came to believe it was time to transition the boys into public school. Daniel entered Lakeridge Jr. High in ninth grade and Robbie followed him the next year. Sally began working as office manager for the Art City Music Academy in Springville, a job that provided fulfillment and flexibility as she continued to shepherd her boys to adulthood. She watched with satisfaction as first Daniel and then Robbie (increasingly going by Dan and Rob) graduated from high school, served Spanish-speaking missions, and enrolled at BYU.

Then in November 2020 she received a devastating diagnosis: pancreatic cancer. She suffered months of excruciating chemotherapy and spent the last half of 2021 in declining health. Then, to everyone’s surprise and delight, in early 2022 she started getting better. She lived to see Dan marry Bella Smith in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. Two years later Rob graduated from BYU in psychology and started his first business. A year after that Dan enrolled at the Columbia Law School. These developments cheered Sally tremendously, but her poor health returned. She passed away five months after she and Brian had bid on a hopeful new chapter in their lives, downsizing to a rural townhouse in Spanish Fork.

Sally Harker had a smile that could light up the room. Despite her deep religious faith, she had a playful, even mischievous personality, and a wonderfully quirky sense of humor. A true Latino mother, she was always asking her husband and sons if they had gotten something to eat. When someone in her acquaintance fell on hard times, she was among the first to offer compassion and assistance. She left a legacy of leadership, service, and joy that will inspire her family and friends for many years to come.

A celebration of her life will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, March 13 (her birthday), 2026, at the LDS chapel on 3477 River Bottoms Rd, Spanish Fork, Utah.