A former long-time educator and founder of Hatrack Storytellers in Manitowoc has died.
Sally Semmes passed away early Sunday morning at Rivers Bend Health & Rehabilitation. Semmes had just turned 90 last month.
Claran LaViolette, who is secretary of the Hatrack Board of Directors, recalled Sally as being a lovely, eloquent person with a wonderful sense of humor. She told SeehaferNews.com, “Even the last few years when I would visit her at River’s Bend, she was always excited about preparing or doing programs for Hatrack…including breaking down a Harry Potter book into readers theatre voices.”
Semmes was given the Key to the City of Manitowoc in 2017 by Mayor Justin Nickels in honor of the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Hatrack Storytellers. She and her late husband, David, co-founded Hatrack in 1967 to promote reading and reading aloud as a fun individual and group activity.
LaViolette said the readers theatre group helped her daughter overcome shyness when she was only in 4th or 5th grade. “I enrolled her in Sally’s Hatrack Kids class,” she said. “They would meet once a week and at the end of class, they would go to schools to do a performance.” That brought out the best in her daughter, and she actually went on to major in theatre.
Sally started dance lessons at the age of 4 and later had her own dance studio in Manitowoc for years. Semmes earned a Bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison and did graduate studies at Northwestern and San Diego State Universities.
She taught junior high and high school levels of Speech and English in Oshkosh, Manitowoc & Valders. Sally also directed & choreographed productions at UW-Manitowoc from the late 1960s to the late 1990s.
She worked as an actor in productions of the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre & Kohler Arts Center.
This past April, Semmes was honored with the Arts and Culture Volunteer Award during the 31st annual Wisconsin Public Service Volunteer Awards program.
Her two daughters, Melissa and Laurie have both pursued careers in the performing arts.
Laurie Semmes told us they’re planning to hold an in-person celebration of life once it’s safe to gather together, adding hopefully in the summer of 2021.
