Obituary of Sarah Lee McBride Mackey, 79
Sarah Lee McBride Mackey.
Sarah Lee McBride Mackey
Sept. 27, 1946 – Nov. 19, 2025
– Born September 27, 1946, in Kermit, Texas, Lee was the second of seven children born to William J. (Mac) McBride and Sarah (Sally) Uhlein McBride. Lee was the only daughter and affectionately known in the family as The Princess.
In 1950, she and the family moved from West Texas to Houston, then on to LaPorte, Texas, where she attended elementary school and junior high school. She graduated from St. Stephen’s High School in Austin, Texas, in 1964.
She spent her summers with Granny Grace and Grampy Wyatt, her maternal grandparents, in Watertown, New York. While there, she learned to sail and swim while attending, and later teaching, Junior Division at Crescent Yacht Club in Chaumont, New York.
Lee attended Stanford University where she majored in child psychology, played countless rounds of bridge and developed many lifelong friends. Lee graduated from Stanford in 1969, married to Stanford classmate Don (Hep) Swartz and had two daughters, Sarah Ann and Margaret Catherine. The family moved to Southern California in the early 70s where Lee volunteered with the Palos Verdes Junior Women’s Club, began playing tennis and continued gathering an expansive list of deep friendships.
Lee married her soulmate John Mackey at her parents’ home in Bakersfield, California, on September 29, 1979, creating a blended family with four daughters. John and Lee shared a love of family and friends, tennis and golf, travel, good food and wine.
Lee opened Sundial Travel in the early 80s, an agency that she owned and operated for more than 20 years while living in Long Beach, California. Lee took many memorable worldwide trips with France always holding a special place in her heart. She continued her volunteer work with CASA Youth Advocates, the Junior League of Long Beach, and giving tours of the Ahmanson’s Theater at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles.
John and Lee retired to the central coast of California in 2007. Lee joined the Assistance League of San Luis Obispo County where she engaged with yet another group of amazing women and created a web of even more great friends. Despite a Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017, Lee lived an active and vigorous life battling her disease. She continued to travel. She worked out with Rock Steady boxing. She volunteered. And she attended sporting events, concerts, award ceremonies and graduations too numerous to count in support of her 14 grandchildren. Lee lived out her days under the empathetic and loving care of her Johnnie to the very end. She passed away at their vineyard home in Paso Robles on November 19, 2025.
Lee joins her parents Sally and Mac, her brothers David, Pete and Mike beyond the clouds where we know they are sailing boats, raising toasts, and keeping tabs on all of us here who miss them.
Lee is survived by her beloved husband of 46 years John, four daughters Sarah (Jeff) Crowley of Bakersfield, Maggie (Jason) Browning of San Luis Obispo, Kristi (Pat) Kelley of Temecula, Kelly (John) Flores of Corona; 14 grandchildren Patrick (Alyssa), Ryan and Sean Crowley; Kailee, Jake, Phoebe and Nate Browning; Brendan (Stephanie), Taryn, Serozha and Megan Kelley; and Gaven, Makenzie and Kalyssa Flores; AND great grandbaby Mara Kelley. Lee also leaves behind three brothers (self-proclaimed older and wiser William J. (Bill) McBride of The Woodlands, Texas, the younger John W. McBride of New Zealand upon whom she sat to tame, and Robert D. (Bob) McBride the youngest still among us of Bakersfield, California), scores of nieces and nephews, and dear friends from every stage of her amazing life.
We miss Lee’s warm smile and joyful laughter. We miss her amazing cooking and love of travel. We miss her good counsel, even temper and community-mindedness. We miss her closet full of red tops. We, quite simply, miss her.
From Legacy.com.
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