OXFORD – Sarah Brewster Rapalje Tower, of 18 Albany Street, Oxford died on Oct. 26, 2008 at Chase Memorial Nursing Home, New Berlin. 
She was born on Feb. 22, 1918 in Havana, Cuba to Ernest Harold Rapalje and Florine Robinson Corbin Rapalje.  Mrs. Tower spent her childhood in Havana, Cuba, and summer in Oxford. Her family later moved to Orange, N.J., where she attended Miss Beard’s School. She graduated from Chatham Hall in Chatham, Va., Class of 1936
She was a secretary at Colgate-Palmolive Company in Jersey City, N.J. where she met her future husband, Clark Baldwin Tower, who predeceased her on October 23, 1997.  They were married on Oct. 17, 1942 in the Second Reformed Church of New Brunswick, N.J. After her marriage, she worked for Johnson & Johnson, in New Brunswick, N.J.
Sarah and Clark Tower resided in Madison, N.J. for 30 years, retiring in 1977, to their summer home in Oxford.  She was a former member of the Junior League of Morristown, N.J., as well as a past president and member of the Madison PTA.
Sarah Rapalje Tower was named after her ancestor, Sarah Rapalje, who was born in 1625, the first European child born in New York. Mrs. Tower was a direct descendant of Joris Jansen de Rapalje and his wife, Catalynie Tricot de Rapalje, early settlers of New Amsterdam. She was a member of the Huguenot Society.
 In Oxford, Mrs. Tower was a long time member of the United Church of Oxford, as well as past president of the Women’s Fellowship of the Church.  She was also a life member and past Corresponding Secretary of the Oxford Historical Society.  Mrs. Tower was a former member of the Oxford Memorial Library board.  Sarah Tower’s grandfather and his brothers and sister had given the Library to the Village of Oxford in memory of his parents, Eli Lyon Corbin and Abigail Taintor Corbin.
Mrs. Tower is survived by her four daughters and sons in law, Christina and John Bancroft of Oxford, Margaret and Malcolm Beyer of Jupiter, Fla., Catherine Tower and Peter Sauerbrey of Port Deposit, Md., and Elizabeth Corbin Tower of Washington, D.C.; her three grandchildren, Malcolm Keller Beyer III of Boca Raton, Fla., Major John Jamieson, Jr. USMC and his wife Amy of Stafford, Va., and Major George Anthony Bancroft II, USMC, and his wife Andrea of LaJolla, CA and New York City, respectively, and  her great granddaughter, Madeline Bancroft of Stafford, Va.
 She is also survived by her nieces and nephews, Mary Rapalje Williams, Susan Rapalje Martin, Daniel Corbin Rapalje, Jr., and Charles Williamson Rapalje.  She was predeceased by her parents, Ernest and Florine Rapalje, and her brother and sister in law Daniel Corbin Rapalje and Mary Hollyfield Rapalje of East Aurora.
 A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 6 from the United Church of Oxford, 25 Main St., Oxford, NY with the Rev. Allen C. Lang, pastor, officiating. 
Memorial contributions may be made to the United Church of Oxford, PO Box 566, Oxford, NY 13830.  Arrangements are being provided by the Behe Funeral Home Inc., 21 Main St., Oxford.