When asked what she liked to do just for herself, Sally Grinsfelder was quiet. Seated on her flowered couch, coffee cup in hand, she tried to come up with an answer. The long silence was telling.

As the mother of five children and a volunteer to a long list of organizations and groups, Grinsfelder has very few moments to spend on herself. But she doesn’t seem to mind.

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“I suspect that I might be a little hyper – that’s one reason that I can probably do so much,” she says.

As Grinsfelder quickly moved about her cozy home, she proudly named all the children smiling in framed photographs, talked about her two dogs and birds, and pointed out that the kitchen wallpaper and hand-painted dinner table featured one of her favorite things – chickens.

The eclectically decorated home personifies Grinsfelder: It’s a place where so many different things come together.

She’s a mentor. She’s an organizer. She’s a caretaker. And after spending time with her, it became apparent why so many people in the Lake Highlands community think Grinsfelder is one of a kind.

“One of the things I like the best about Sally is that she has such a great sense of humor. She’s always able to find the light moment in every occasion,” says Margaret Gall, friend and member of the Lake Highlands Women’s League.

“She’s a terrific mom. She’s very supportive of her kids.”

Grinsfelder’s give-all attitude to her family and volunteer work made her the recipient of this year’s Advocate Award, a yearly honor presented by this magazine to an individual who has devoted time and energy into making our neighborhood a better place to live.

Like so many active parents volunteering in the community, and like Advocate Award recipients of years past, Grinsfelder is someone who doesn’t step forward for attention or personal gain. She does it because she cares, and because the word “no” is apparently not in her vocabulary when it comes to giving unselfishly to those around her.

“I think the results of Sally’s efforts are in the faces of everyone who knows her,” says husband David Grinsfelder. “She has influenced children and friends quietly, through her life, to be positive, open-minded and loving toward others.”

In addition to juggling a demanding schedule that’s indicative of raising five kids – Samantha, 9, Frances, 14, Bennett, 18, Katy, 20 and Ginger, 22 – Grinsfelder also manages to:

  • Tutor math at Merriman Park Elementary
  • Be active in the Lake Highlands Women’s League
  • Coordinate volunteers for the Lake Highlands Women’s League Tour of Homes
  • Serve as Brownie/Girl Scouts co-leader
  • Serve as “soccer mom” to her son’s varsity soccer team
  • Serve on the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority Reference Board
  • Organize the massive decorations for her son’s Senior Men’s Party
  • Coordinate housing for out-of-town guests participating in the Dallas Cup, the largest youth soccer tournament in the world

The list doesn’t include the cookies she bakes for school parties, the weekend camping trips she coordinates, and the crafts she makes for fund-raisers. In fact, Grinsfelder has done so much to help the PTA that she was given the Texas PTA Life Member award.

“Organizations are pretty smart when they put a mother of five in charge of something, because when I call for help, it’s really very difficult for anyone to turn me down – for them to say, ‘Well, I’m just too busy,’ because they can’t say that to me,” Grinsfelder says.

But Grinsfelder believes she can do more.

“I have been busier in my life,” she says, “I do a lot, but it’s spread between five kids.”

Grinsfelder may think she could push herself further, but her friends and peers believe she does more than most people.

“Sally is a tireless worker for Women’s League,” Gall says. “She wants to make sure it stays strong.”

Betsy Halford, student secretary at Merriman Park Elementary, has known Grinsfelder for more than 10 years.

Of her work as a tutor, Halford says: “The fact that she finds time to come here regularly is just evidence of how much she cares about trying to help everybody. Whatever she’s involved in, she gives 100 percent of her effort.”

Grinsfelder doesn’t like to take credit for her volunteerism, instead crediting her family for what she does.

“I couldn’t do all this volunteerism if they didn’t support me,” she says.

Family Life

Grinsfelder’s family started when she and her high school sweetheart, David, married 26 years ago. They had met after a football game during their sophomore year at Lake Highlands High School. Grinsfelder says she and her friends had gone to Kip’s for hamburgers and hot fudge sundaes when she saw her future husband and his friends.

“They were in the parking lot waiting for some girl, but she hadn’t shown up yet. So we picked them up,” she laughs

After graduating from Texas Tech with an education degree, Grinsfelder landed a job as a teacher at Dougherty Elementary School in Garland. Two years later, she gave birth to her first child.

In order to spend time with her new daughter, Grinsfelder left teaching to care for her child full-time.

“Good kids don’t just happen,” she says.

Close to both parents (husband David shares a dental practice with Grinsfelder’s father), Grinsfelder is available if her parents need her support.

When her mother developed a vision disorder called macular degeneration, Grinsfelder stepped in to help with errands and odd jobs.

“She’s not demanding,” Grinsfelder says of her mother. “It’s just paying back in kind what they’ve always done for us.”

Past Accomplishments

One of the ways Grinsfelder juggles a large family and endless volunteer hours is through her sense of humor.

“I don’t mind working really, really hard if I’m having fun,” she says. “I do not like to take life so seriously.”

Grinsfelder’s friends agree that her spunky personality is evident in the work that she does.

“She is hilarious, always upbeat and in a good mood,” Halford says. “She has a contagious laugh, just that deep-down chuckle that comes from the heart.”

In the 22 years since she left teaching, Grinsfelder has continuously worked with schools and fund-raising events. She has been PTA president, a member of the Junior League and co-chaired Market in the Meadow, a fund-raising event/craft show.

She has held various offices in several organizations and has served on an abundance of committees – all, she says, for her family.

“You go from one day to the next, dedicating to the children,” Grinsfelder says. “I would say the children are the main focus of our lives.”