Sarah Ann Hardacre

Sarah Ann Hardacre (nee: Schalow) was called home to the Lord on Monday, October 20, 2025. She passed peacefully at Ascension All Saints Hospital after a courageous 16-month battle with Stage IV pancreatic cancer with family at her side. A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 22, 2025, at 11:00 AM at Trinity Lutheran Church (2065 Geneva Street) in Racine with Pastor David Gehne officiating. Visitation will be held from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Friday, November 21, 2025, at Maresh-Meredith and Acklam Funeral Home (803 Main Street) in Racine and again from 10:00 AM until the time of the service at the church on Saturday.

Sarah was born April 30, 1961, to the late Ronald R. and Cydelle A. (nee: Stecker) Schalow in Marshfield, Wisconsin, where she spent her entire childhood. She was their only child. Sarah frequently tagged along with her father to his baseball, softball, and bowling leagues, which is where she developed a very competitive instinct/trait that stayed with her for her entire life.

In her early teens, she took up the sport of tennis which became and remained a major focal point for her entire life. She quickly developed into a competitive and successful tennis player. She was a 3-year varsity letter winner at Marshfield Senior High School, winning multiple Wisconisn Valley Conference Championships as an individual (#1 singles) and team as well as qualifying for the WIAA State Individual and Team Championship competition. She also had significant success in the summer tennis tournament circuit in Central Wisconsin. She took her tennis to the collegiate level, first as the #1 singles player on the men’s team at UW-Marshfield/Wood County (there was no women’s team then). She transferred to UW-Stevens Point for the remaining 3 years of her collegiate career, earning 1st team All-Conference in 1981, and 2nd team in 1982, and being named team MVP all three years. She graduated cum laude with a degree in elementary education in December 1983.

In addition to her athletic talents, she sang competitively with her high school chorus and was a 3-year participant with the Marshfield Senior High Madrigal Singers. She played violin with her high school orchestra as well in her collegiate summers in the orchestra pit of the local theater group. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, she was very active with Sweet Adelines International, both Indianapolis and Racine chapters, performing and competing with the chorus and as a member of a successful quartet.

It was through tennis that she met her soul mate and love of her life as a sophomore in high school, Jerry Hardacre. Together, they shared the love of tennis from high school to the collegiate level (Jerry at Ripon College, Sarah at UW-Stevens Point) and all through their adult life. Sarah and Jerry were married on July 2,1983 in Marshfield, Wisconsin. After Jerry completed medical school in 1985, they moved to Indianapolis, Indiana while Jerry did his general surgery residency. Sarah helped support the family, teaching 4th grade while there.

They were blessed with the birth of daughter Jenna in 1985, Jerry III (Jay) in1987, while in Indiana, and Jesse in July 1990 upon locating to Racine when Jerry joined the Kurten Medical Group in the General Surgery Department.

After starting a family and relocating to Racine in 1990, Sarah quickly resumed her competitive tennis career, playing on multiple USTA State League teams, both in Racine and Milwaukee. Beginning in 1992, she won the Racine On The Lake (City Tournament) Women’s Singles Championship for a record 6 consecutive years. In addition, she won multiple local city Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles Championships over a 15-year period. Sarah became a USPTA certified teaching professional in the late 1990s and then started teaching tennis at The Racine Indoor Tennis Club and transitioning to LifeSport Racine, actively teaching group and individual lessons right up until her cancer diagnosis. Around 2007, she began a very successful high school girls tennis coaching career, initially JV coach with Sylvia Krause at Horlick High School and then was recruited to be the varsity girls coach at St. Catherine’s High School in Racine in 2008. While at St. Catherine’s, she had many players that achieved significant success not only locally but at the WIAA State Level as well. A handful of her players went on to have successful collegiate careers. She returned to Horlick High School as varsity coach, retiring from coaching in 2018.

Jerry and Sarah embraced Racine as their new home, quickly becoming involved in the community. In the early 1990s, building on the experience obtained while advocating for daughter Jenna with her cognitive disability, Sarah became actively involved with the ARC (previously known as Association for Retarded Citizens) of Racine. Initially, she served on the Board of Directors of the local chapter but then transitioned to a paid employee, serving as a Parent Advocate to many Racine families until she started her full-time tennis teaching career. She continued, though, to serve the Racine adult disabled community, being named to the Board of Careers Industries, now known as VARC, serving a 3-year term in the early 2000s.

In addition to her individual accomplishments, she was the rock and glue to the family as Jerry developed his surgical career at All Saints. She felt that THIS was her greatest accomplishment in life. She was an active participant in the PTLs of all the schools that the kids attended and was visually and vocally supportive at all of their athletic and scholastic activities. Primarily through the tutelage and support of Sarah (with some guidance from Jerry), all of the children developed a love for competitive tennis, each of them having their own success at the high school and collegiate level.

A lifelong member of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, her spirituality and faith were evident in all aspects of her life. The family have been active members of Trinity Lutheran Church and Sarah served in the Altar Guild for the past 15 years.

Besides her faith, family and tennis, she enjoyed reading of all types but especially fiction and romance novels and was an active member of the Trinity book club. She took great pleasure in walking her dogs, and above all, watching all sports but especially her beloved Green Bay Packers. Prior to his passing, after each game, she and her father would dissect the outcome, win or lose, and was described by her family as being the consummate Monday morning quarterback.

She is survived by her husband, Jerry, daughter Jenna, son Jerry (Jay) III (Rosalva), and son Jesse as well as many siblings’ in-law, nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by mother, Cydelle in April 2005 and father, Ronald in June 2025.

The family would like to thank Dr. Kaoutar Tlemcani and the dedicated staff of Ascension All Saints Cancer Center for their compassionate, empathetic and professional care. We would also like to thank Dr. Mandana Kamgar and her Faith Clinic team at the Wauwatosa Froedtert Cancer Center for assisting with potential advanced treatment options for her pancreatic cancer. Finally, we wish to recognize the wonderful and caring team at Ascension All Saints Hospital, from the emergency care center to the med/surg units of CVI 2 and 5 as well as the many hospitalists and medical specialists that participated in her inpatient care in the last two months of her life.

In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring the memory of Sarah by visiting her personal giving page through support of the Ascension All-Saints Hope Fund of the Ascension Wisconsin Foundation (www.giveawf.org/hope), 19333 W. North Ave., Brookfield, WI 53045. This fund assists disadvantaged All Saints Cancer patients with financial support for housing, utilities and food while undergoing their cancer treatment. Alternatively, please consider Trinity Lutheran Church, 2065 Geneva Street, Racine, WI 53402, or the charity of your choice.

Finally, the family would like to thank the entire community of Racine for wholeheartedly welcoming a family of Badgers/Packers/Brewers/Bucks back to the State of Wisconsin as they established a new life footprint in southeast Wisconsin