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Sara Bissell was determined never to look like a victim during her 11-year battle with cancer.
Bissell, wife of influential Charlotte developer H.C. "Smoky" Bissell, died at her home Sunday. She was 71.
"We were holding hands all night last night," her husband said Sunday. "She just absolutely never, ever gave up."
Sara Bissell had served on the boards of trustees at Charlotte Country Day School, UNC Charlotte, the YMCA of Greater Charlotte and Queens University.
The UNCC chancellor's residence is named in her honor.
Bissell was born into one of Charlotte's most prominent families, the granddaughter of former N.C. Gov. Cameron Morrison.
Her brothers are prominent developer Johnny Harris and Charlotte businessman Cameron Harris.
She attended Charlotte Country Day School before graduating from Bennett Junior College in New York.
She met Smoky Bissell through his roommate. "She was absolutely perfect," he said. They were married in 1960.
In 1964, she took over her mother's fine furnishings store, which she operated until several years ago.
Her flair for décor made her influential in Smoky Bissell developments, he said. She made many of the design decisions.
"Our architects would say, 'When can we get together with Mrs. B?'" Bissell said. "I was never asked those questions."
But her passion was the couple's four children and nine grandchildren, Bissell said. He recalled when she needed knee surgery 10 days before their youngest daughter Barbara Hallow's wedding.
She had to go through physical therapy twice a day, but nothing would stop her from walking at the wedding.
"She walked down that aisle, happy as can be to be the mother of the bride," he said.
Bissell said it is hard to believe she is gone. "There's a picture of her two weeks ago with her grandchildren in their Halloween outfits," he said.
"She looks like the picture of health. And 13 days later, she's not here."
Services are set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Christ Episcopal Church on Providence Road in south Charlotte.
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