“Elaine gave generously, and she loved to read about the impact of the ministries she supported. She was thoughtful and deliberate with her gifts and made wise financial decisions that aligned with her Christian values.”

Elaine Sauer never met an annual report she didn’t like. That’s what her nephews Charlie and Dan say about their aunt who went to heaven just four days shy of her 97th birthday.

Elaine was a well-respected, intellectual woman. After graduating from Rufus King High School in 1944, she worked at Red Star Yeast company for twenty years where she helped introduce computerized accounting to the company. There were not many managerial opportunities open to women at that time, so Elaine decided to move on and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. She graduated with an accounting degree in 1967. She was hired by First Wisconsin Bank, becoming their first female auditor. She eventually went on to direct the operations of the international audit division as the bank’s first female vice president.

When she wasn’t scouring annual reports and taking meetings alongside men in business suits, Elaine loved to garden and travel. She also played piano and sang with the Lutheran Chorale of Milwaukee. You would often see her on her riding lawn mower taking care of a lovely yard in Fox Point. She never married but took her mother into her home and cared for her until her passing. Throughout her life, Elaine gave time and talents to her church.

Up until the last few months of her life, Elaine was managing her own finances, driving the car, and maintaining the household.

Sitting around the conference table at Christian Family Solutions on a January afternoon, Charlie, Dan, and Dan’s wife, Susan, revisited the life of Elaine Sauer. They described her tenacious spirit. Then Charlie slid a check across the table that closed out the portion of her estate Elaine had left to Christian Family Solutions.

Even in her passing, Elaine continues to heal and help people in need, just as she did in her life. CFS is honored that Elaine entrusted a part of her estate to our ministry.

“Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)