In 1964, Sarah graduated from University College, London University, with an honors bachelor of science degree in Zoology. She accepted a position as a Research Assistant with Dr. James Weston in the Western Reserve University biology department, which brought her to Cleveland. Sarah wrote a paper with Dr. Weston on their work on cell differentiation, which was published in 1966. You can read an abstract of that paper here.

Sarah met Philip Taylor, a young physics professor at CWRU, through an international students organization. They married in 1966, and had two daughters, Camilla (born 1970) and Imogen (1973).

In 1972, Sarah was instrumental in forming the Open Housing Task Force (as a subdivision of the Heights Community Congress) to combat racial steering and blockbusting practices by some realtors in Cleveland Heights. Sarah was sued by the realtors for her efforts, but the City of Cleveland Heights intervened on her side and brought counterclaims against the realtors for related civil rights violations. Sarah, the City, and the Task Force were successful, and in 1976, Cleveland Heights enacted an ordinance banning discrimination, blockbusting, and unsolicited telephone solicitations by real estate agents. You can listen to an interview of Sarah discussing this achievement here, beginning around minute 23.

In 1976, having returned from a year in Eugene, Oregon, where Sarah enjoyed listening to National Public Radio, Sarah contacted the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington and asked why Cleveland did not have an NPR station. Sarah discovered that Cleveland was, in fact, the largest major market in the United States without one. Sarah called a number of movers and shakers to a meeting in her living room, and the non-profit organization Cleveland Public Radio was born, of which Sarah was one of four founding trustees. After eight years of effort, the 50,000 watt station WCPN went on the air in 1984.

In 1978[???], Sarah started a small business importing “Birdmobiles” from England (paper cut-out kits of very lifelike birds) for sale in nature centers and museum shops throughout the United States. She ran the business for about a dozen years, before selling it to a small company on the West Coast to allow her more time to pursue other projects.

Sometime in the early 1980s, Sarah took on the role of art history teacher in her daughters’ school, through a program with the Cleveland Museum of Art. The museum lent reproductions of various art pieces to schools in the Cleveland area, and Sarah volunteered to present them and talk about them with students at Laurel School. As with everything she did, Sarah made a lasting impression on her students. Forty years later, one of her daughters ran into a classmate, and the classmate spoke fondly of her memories of “Picture Lady,” and remarked on the great impact Sarah’s art history lessons had on them.

In 1992, Sarah became a member of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Women’s Council, and volunteered in the Museum’s Library for several years, working on the Gernsheim photographic collection. Sarah received one of the Museum’s Volunteer of the Year awards in 1999.

In 1996, Sarah created the Case Western Reserve University Newcomers Committee. The organization’s mission was to welcome new faculty and their spouses, partners, and families to Cleveland, and to introduce them to opportunities and resources on campus, in University Circle, and in the city and region at large. Sarah hosted events throughout the year to help new faculty and their families make social and professional connections. She also created a website to keep newcomers informed about upcoming events, activities, and services around town. For the founding and chairing of this committee Sarah received a Women of Achievement award in 2012 from the Office of the Provost and from the Mather Center for Women at CWRU.

Sarah did quite a bit of writing and editing over the years, on varied topics. In 1997 she wrote an article about the Danish explorer Jens Munk, after whom an important rose was named. You can read an abridged version of her article “Jens Munk - A Hardy Dane” beginning on page 60 of the Canadian Rose Annual of 1997 here. Sarah’s research for this article brought her from the libraries of Cleveland to the University of Toronto, Memorial University in Newfoundland, the University of Cambridge, and the Scott Polar Institute Research Library in Cambridge, England.

Starting around the year 2000, Sarah became captivated by the development and construction process of Frank Gehry’s Peter B. Lewis Building on CWRU’s campus. Sarah wanted to recognize and celebrate the imagination, innovation, and skill required of the many construction workers, engineers, and building products companies involved in bringing Gehry’s design into reality. Sarah wrote articles published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Northern Ohio Live, led tours of the building, organized a forum with faculty, industry, and ironworker union speakers, and created a website to celebrate the many craftspeople and companies involved in the building’s construction. Sarah’s work on this project was very meaningful to the workers and innovators behind the Peter B. Lewis Building’s construction. Sarah persuaded Wayne Miller, Foreman of Iron Workers Union Local 17, to film a video of his colleagues’ work on the building for Sarah’s website. You can watch that video and read Sarah’s articles on her NeoGehry website here.

Starting around 2006, Sarah took on one of her most ambitious projects ever. She initiated the effort to have Cleveland build the world’s first freshwater wind farm offshore in Lake Erie. (As of 2021, there is now a freshwater wind farm in the Netherlands, but Sarah’s idea to construct the world’s first in Lake Erie far preceded this development.) She started by creating a website and soliciting support from elected officials, community members, businesspeople, environmental groups, industry groups, students, and others by listing them as “Champions” of the effort on her website. She was dogged and relentless in her pursuit of Champions and her submission of articles and letters to every imaginable outlet. She created a groundswell of support for the idea, which eventually led to the creation of the Icebreaker Wind Project. There were times over the years when to others, the obstacles seemed insurmountable. But Sarah’s unending optimism and sheer relentlessness never wavered, and she continued to fight for her dream of wind power on Lake Erie through setbacks and headwinds. Sarah’s ceaseless efforts paid off, as just two months ago, on Sarah’s birthday, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the project has now been revived. You can read more about this on the “Sarah’s work” tab above.