Passings
Sarah Kate (Peasy) Love
Chris Mellen with Sierra Cheyenne
It was only recently that we learned of the loss of Sarah Kate Otto Love, a dedicated participant in the civic and cultural life of the region and a major figure in the renewal of the St. Louis Central West End and Forest Park, who died December 20, 2017. She was 74. She grew up in Creve Coeur, and was educated at Mary Institute from kindergarten to her graduation in 1961. She was a graduate of Smith College, Northhampton, MA, and attended the institute of Fine Arts in New York City. She married Andrew Love in 1969. He survived along with their three children and grandchildren.
Chris Mellen 8/7/49 — 10/22/21 It is with great sadness that I must tell this story about the passing of a kindred-spirit horse-friend. I’m not sure when or how she got started in horses or even Al Khamsa horses, but it was always her passion during the two-plus decades I knew her. I know she had Blue Star horses when I first started to correspond with her. Then she somehow had acquired Sally-O-Doyle (Ghalidar x Bint Subani), a 1988 chestnut Babson/Doyle mare. The mare had been at Dory Kidder’s farm in Wisconsin and not that far from me at my Minnesota farm. Dory had my stallion’s (Sierra Sandarac) full brother, Sierra Sabian… and Sally was there to get pregnant. That pregnancy did not happen so Sally was to come to me and brother Sandarac. This is how Chris and I met (on the phone). It must have been roughly 1997. It lasted without waver since. It was a decade before I ever saw a photo of her and we didn’t meet in person until recent years. Crazy.
Mrs. Love was a stalwart and creative leader of major cultural projects in the City of the St. Louis. She was instrumental in the initiation of the revival of the region's greatest urban open-space asset, Forest Park, the creation and development of New City School, and contributed to the revival of opera in St. Louis. From there, her commitment to exuberant living spanned the field and was broad enough to include horse breeding and performance entertaining, and a generous hospitality to a range of guests, including seminary students, opera impresarios, directors and singers, Missouri Botanical Garden botanists, Middle Eastern refugees, graduated students, family of a major surgery patient of BJC, and an assortment of chickens, horses, and dogs, stray as well as pedigreed, all of whom became part of her household. She once hosted a pair of camels performing for the Fox Theater and the occasional Circus Flora creature in her back yard, and Mrs. Turkey was a regular breakfast guest for several years.
Chris was a creative researcher. She found horses and people and info when needed. Pulled them out of a hat like the magical rabbit. She spoke with many of the great breeders and researchers who had gone before us. She had a dedication to the Pritzlaff horses and was the only other person completely committed to the Babson/Doyle program that I knew. She was a plucky, hard-headed stubborn soul, no bigger than a minute, and even when she had little to nothing she always made sure the horses were taken care of first. She had her dreams, and some came true, but it should be known that she made a difference. That’s how this preservation stuff works: One little breeder, with a big heart and strong will, at a time! Thank you Chris Mellen for all your years of being there!! You will be missed.
She had a small Al Khamsa breeding program, with primarily Davenport horses, in the 1970s and 80s. She participated in the very first Al Khamsa Fantasia in 1981 and was supportive of all Al Khamsa events at the time.
~ Bev Davison 6
