Sally Thoreson

Sally Thoreson (Salome Theresa Popa), 96, lifelong resident of Leelanau County, passed away peacefully on February 12, 2026 at Maple Valley Nursing Home with family by her side. Salome, known to family and friends as Sally, was born on June 22, 1929 in Cedar to Walter and Salomea (Peplinski) Popa. She was one of 14 children and the last one to join her siblings in Heaven. Sally met the love of her life at a dance in Cedar. As the story goes, Sally spotted Leonard walking across the dance floor toward her and the closer he got the more her heart went "pitter patter" and the rest is history. On October 14, 1950, the two married at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Cedar. For the first few years of their marriage, they lived on the Thoreson farm in Port Oneida with Leonard’s parents where they had two children, Ronald and Robert. They moved to Glen Arbor and rented while they began to build a home for their family, this is where their third child Barbara was born. They built the basement and lived there while they finished the upper two stories. Their fourth child, Lawrence was born while they lived in the basement. While building their house the family moved back to the farm to help Leonard's parents, first when Leonard's mother (Louise) broke her leg and again when his father (Ole) had a stroke while picking apples. Sally had to uproot her family, re-establish a home life, and care for her mother-in-law and father-in-law. Sally's cooking and baking skills were learned from Leonard's mother (Louise) while on the farm. After a time they moved back to Glen Arbor, finished their home and welcomed their fifth child James. Sally was the Head Chef, Business Manager, Events, and Safety Coordinator for the family. In her role as the household manager, she managed the family finances to insure that they had everything they needed, chauffeured the children to and from their many extracurricular activities, maintained the house, cooked all the meals and gave her children all the love and emotional support needed to prepare them to go out on their own. Sally even took on jobs out of the house to help support her family. Her children fondly remember all the delicious meals that were prepared. Even after the older children moved out and on with their lives she would host Sunday dinners and spectacular holiday meals. In her free time and not so free time she liked to bake. Her specialties were paczkis (which she was known for and family and friends considered them the best outside of Poland), cinnamon rolls, fruit pies (especially cherry), cookies and dinner rolls. Sally baked her way into the hearts of friends and neighbors. It was not uncommon to walk into the kitchen and find Sally in an apron and kitchen covered in flour. The only people Sally loved more than her children were her grandchildren who were always excited to visit. No family member can remember a time when Sally told any of her grandchild that they could not have a treat. As life settled down with the older children out of the house Sally and Leonard took up camping. They would take fall color tours by themselves along the north and south shores of Lake Superior. In the summer they would take their youngest son, James to the Upper Peninsula visiting places like Tahquamenon Falls, the Soo Locks, Porcupine Mountains and other sites. On one trip to the Soo Locks they met a family from Wisconsin with a son the same age, and the two families camped together for many years. Sally was a devoted member of Holy Rosary Catholic Church outside of Cedar, Michigan, receiving her sacraments and graduating High School from Holy Rosary School. Once married and living in Glen Arbor they made St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in Empire, Michigan their home parish. Faith was the foundation of Sally's life and she instilled that deep practice of her faith in her family. Sally favorite activities were to work on jigsaw puzzles and word search puzzles. She could often be found in the evening sitting in her chair, with her feet up working on a word puzzle. Sally will always be remembered as a wonderful wife, loving mom, grandma, great grandma, sister, friend and beloved child of the Lord. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Leonard Ole Thoreson, her father Walter Popa, mother Solomea (Peplinski) Popa; her 13 siblings Helen "Sister Cleofasa" Popa, Stanley Popa, Jessie Popa, Walter Popa Jr., John Popa, Mathilda “Tilly” Laskey, Elizabeth "Betty" Brzezinski, Martha Popa, Susan “Susie” LaVanture, Anthony "Tony" Popa, Theresa Mikowski, Mary Linguar, and Theodore “Teddy” Popa; daughter-in-law Amy Thoreson and granddaughter Amber Thoreson. She is survived by her children Ronald (Barb)Thoreson, Robert (Kathi) Thoreson, Barbara (Barry) Mazurek, Lawrence (Dawn) Thoreson and James Thoreson; 16 grandchildren Jason (Sarah) Agidius, James (Lacie) Agidius, Luke (Kelli) Thoreson, Jonathan (Trysten) Thoreson, Cooper (Ashley) Thoreson, Colby Thoreson, Cameron (Allison) Thoreson, Justin (Amy) Mazurek, Megan Ziegler, Lance Mazurek, Christopher (Liz) Thoreson, Rebecca (Aash Bhatt) Thoreson, Sarah (Manan) Bhatt, Bridget Thoreson, Micah Thoreson, Jenaya Thoreson and 26 great-grandchildren. Visitation will be held on Wednesday February 25, 2026, from 5-7pm at Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home. The rosary will be prayed at 7pm. Funeral services will be held on Thursday February 26, 2026 at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church at 11am with visitation at 10am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made out to St. Philip Neri Catholic Church or to Maple Valley Nursing Home. She will be laid to rest at St. Philip Neri Cemetery in the spring. The family would like to thank the staff at Maple Valley Nursing Home for their care and kindness during her six years at Maple Valley and Hospice for the care that Sally received in her final days.

Sally Thoreson

June 22, 1929 - February 12, 2026