Sarah Joanne Buist: Mother. Wife. Social worker. Community builder. Born Feb. 18, 1980, in Simcoe, Ont.; died Aug. 16, 2024, in Hamilton, of gastric cancer; aged 44.
Sarah Buist.Courtesy of family
As the youngest of four children, Sarah Vanderkooy was doted on by her older siblings. Summers meant her parents, Jim and Christine Vanderkooy, took the family camping across Canada and the United States. In each new location, Sarah was a magnet for new connections, forging friends out of strangers within minutes. This magnetism became a trademark aspect of Sarah’s life: always bubbling with energy and enthusiasm, drawing people into her circle with ease.
As a young teen, she held a garage sale, and to her parents’ surprise, sold an old car from the garage. She insisted that her parents honour the agreement, and while she didn’t win that argument she never gave up making her case! Later in life, Sarah tackled other projects with similar enthusiasm: reorganizing closets for a friend, baking dozens of banana muffins for friends and family, or painting kitchen walls and cabinets for a weekend project.
Social work was a natural fit for her caring nature. She completed a BSW at Calvin University in Michigan and an MSW at Laurier University in Ontario. After graduation, she worked with community organizations before joining the Hamilton Wentworth School Board as a school social worker.
Every Christmas season, Sarah became well known throughout the school board as she gathered donations for families in need. She took great satisfaction in ensuring that each family she helped received exactly what was asked for. In later years, Sarah started her own private social work practice, providing mental health support to both adults and kids.
In 2009, Sarah met Matt Buist, who shared her zest for life. From the start, Sarah was pretty keen on him, despite what she deemed an underwhelming wardrobe. This she resolved by buying him a few new clothing items. Within a year, Matt and Sarah were married and moved to Burlington, Ont. They soon welcomed their daughter, Abby, followed by Jeremy, Sean and Andrew over eight years.
Sarah took as much maternity leave as was permitted with each baby, then valiantly navigated daycare adjustments, sleepless nights and full days as a school social worker.
Being a devoted and capable mom, and working with so many children as a social worker, Sarah was quick to offer suggestions to others about their own parenting situations – sometimes too quickly.
In the midst of these busy years, Sarah was often the first to help – driving a friend to an appointment, caring for her niece while her sister travelled for work, supporting a friend with a messy divorce and organizing family gatherings. She relished summer entertaining at their backyard pool.
In early 2024, Sarah received a devastating diagnosis of gastric cancer. Sarah cut off her own long, blonde locks, donating her hair for wigs for other cancer patients. It was hard at first for Sarah to shift from caring for others to allowing herself to be cared for: friends organized a meal train, others cared for her kids, and her own mother showed up to clean her kitchen every morning. When she felt well enough to engage in normal activities, she always focused on her children, attending Jeremy and Sean’s hockey games, taking Abby shopping, bringing Andrew to speech therapy and family movie nights. Sarah intentionally provided as much normalcy as possible for her children, baking their usual treats and cuddling them each evening.
Sarah desperately wanted a different outcome though welcomed a relief from the exhausting pain and discomfort that she endured in her final weeks. In her last days, Sarah spoke frequently of her unending love for Matt, for Abby, 12, for Jeremy, 10, for Sean, 8, and for five-year-old Andrew. At the height of summer, on a rain-drenched day, Sarah’s life ended. She was comforted by the presence of her husband, siblings and parents by her side.
Tricia Williams is Sarah Buist’s sister.
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