Sally Rains Three things motivate Sally Tippett Rains, Epsilon Iota –Missouri/Columbia: writing, being creative and helping others. She gets plenty of motivation through her work as a writer, documentary filmmaker and volunteer.
Filmmaking is a new interest but one that is already quite rewarding thanks to a unique project focused on "Gone With the Wind" and the stories behind the book and movie.
“I saw an article online that said "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell based her characters Rhett and Scarlett on two real people,” Sally explains. “It intrigued me and I started researching it. Pretty soon I was finding out all these amazing facts and I ended up meeting one of Margaret Mitchell’s cousins. She showed me an old scrapbook with pictures from the 1800’s of her relatives who had actually lived through many of the same experiences that Mitchell wrote about in "Gone With the Wind." It was fascinating.”
Sally has also met with several of the actors from the movie including Ann Rutherford who played Scarlett’s sister Carreen. Even though Ann was a big movie star, this small part in "Gone With The Wind" was so special to her that she loves talking about it. Sally has also met Cammie King who played Bonnie Blue Butler.
“I interviewed over 70 people for this book, and it took three years to write,” Sally says. “One of the people I interviewed called me back later to let me know he had gotten a production company in Atlanta interested in what I was doing. They wanted to do a television documentary based on my book. Filming began in the summer of 2008, and production has started up again to finish the project.
Sally’s not looking to change the world with this project. “I don’t think it’s really important---it is just fun,” she says with a laugh. “It was a pleasure working on it. I present the information in a way that anyone who likes "Gone With the Wind," either the movie or the book will enjoy. It’s a light hearted look at Margaret Mitchell and her book. It’s about the background and the inside stories about the Hollywood production.”
But that lighthearted approach is more the exception than the rule. Sally is the author of 12 books, all of which have helped change lives and inspire others in countless ways. “I just love to write,” she notes. “You have to love the process if you are a writer, because, like baseball, you end up striking out way more than you get a hit.”
Part of the process, Sally learned early on in her career, is not being able to get the process started. “I have been trying to get a book published since I was in college,” Sally says. “I have a whole notebook full of reject letters, which I show to students as a way of motivating them. If you keep trying, something good will happen.” She finally got her first book published at the young age of 40, and she’s averaged one book a year since then.
“My biggest message to others is never give up,” she explains. “What if I would have given up after my last reject letter? I never would have had the joy of all the great experiences involved with writing my books.”
The best authors write what they know, and Sally knows sports – not as a participant necessarily, but as a fan. “As a child I wore glasses and when I ran the whole world shook as they bounced up and down on my nose,” she laughs. “I was no good at sports and really embarrassed in gym class. Needless to say I was not on the Kappa Delta softball team.”
The thing Sally likes about sports is the excitement of a sporting event, and the ways that sports bring people together. That passion for sports inspired her to work hard, against some pretty tough odds, to be part of the game. “When I was in college, I was majoring in horticulture with the hopes of being a florist,” she says. “Halfway into it I realized it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” Then fate intervened, as Sally’s KD chapter was planning a philanthropy project which involved “kidnapping” the football coach. “I went over to his office to try to get him involved with it,” she recalls. He did not want to do it, but in the process of this, he asked me what my major was and suggested I would be good in public relations or working with a sports team. My grades had slipped and when I went to the dean of the Journalism School he turned me down.”
Sally did not give up though. Determined to accomplish her goal even if it mean circumventing the journalism department, Sally wrote a letter to the play-by-play man for the Missouri football team at the time and her diligence paid off. “I ended up getting an internship at KMOX Radio in St. Louis and worked so hard they hired me full time,” she notes. “I enrolled in a nearby university and got my journalism degree. KMOX was the station where Bob Costas started. I was fortunate to be his writer among other things I did at the station.”
And of course, as with most parts of life, a KD connection was found on the sports field. “My job was to go to the games and interview players afterward, writing up the stories for the sportscasts,” Sally states.” One of the teams I covered was the St. Louis Streak of the Women’s Professional Basketball League. I was always interviewing one of their star players, Jane Ellen Cook and eventually we became friends. One day we were talking about things and she mentioned she was in a sorority and guess what - she was a Kappa Delta!”
So it’s no surprise what subject her first book dealt with – sports! The book, "How To Coach and Play Baseball," was written with Wendell Kim, then third base coach for the San Francisco Giants. “It turned out to be a good niche,” she says. “I ended up doing two more books with coaches, one on basketball and one on softball.” Who knows how many athletes have strengthened their abilities or perfected their games thanks to Sally’s writing?
But to Sally, her most important book, and most personal book, was "Finding Peace in the Rain", written after a devastating family crisis. “I lost a sister to suicide,” she says. “She was a beautiful, productive woman who was undergoing medical treatment for bi-polar disease, and I was to pick her up that morning to take her to her appointment. When I arrived I could not find her in her apartment and I panicked. Suddenly a calm, peaceful feeling came upon me. It was something I’ve never experienced — I felt God’s presence in the room as I turned and found her. She was at peace and strangely enough so was I.”
That experience helped her realize she could help people by offering them inspiration. “So many people are hurting out there, whether they have lost a job, gotten a bad diagnosis, lost a loved one, or been dropped by a boyfriend or husband,” Sally explains. “My sister had a disease and that is what killed her, but there are others out there who could be saved - these beautiful children who are bullied at school or the lonely person who feels their life is not worth living. I just want to encourage people not give up on their life. We are all stronger than we think we are and we can survive these troubled times.”
"Finding Peace in the Rain" - though just a little paperback book, has had a powerful and positive impact on many people struggling through difficult times. “I have had more mail and compliments regarding this book from people who keep it by their bed and re-read it,” she says. “I find myself reading it over and over when times seem tough.”
Sally’s family has dealt with other tragedies also, always finding the good in the situation, and always searching for ways to help others with the knowledge they took away from their own personal situation. And that is how Rainbows for Kids, a 501 (c) (3) charity dedicated to helping families of children with cancer (and other serious illness) was born.
“When my little 6-year-old niece Annie was diagnosed with a brain tumor, our family decided to put on a party for the kids at the hospital” Sally says. “My sons put on a backyard carnival to earn money to buy hats and presents for the kids. We got cookies donated and had a party at the hospital. It was so fun for the families who were at the hospital with their children getting treatment that we decided to have a fund-raiser and become a charity.”
Rainbows for Kids is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year! “For the past 10 years, my family and the friends and volunteers we have recruited have put on fun parties and events for families of children with cancer,” she notes. “Annie used to help us, but after she passed away we felt her spirit urging us to continue. It has been a real blessing in my life that I have been able to contribute to something so worthwhile. There are no paid employees: we are all volunteers. It is so wonderful to see these kids smile with all the fun we provide them. We can’t cure cancer, but we can offer them something fun to look forward to and encourage them to keep a positive attitude while facing it. New treatments are being discovered every day and more and more people are surviving. Your outlook is so important in your recovery.”
Besides writing and running a non-profit, Sally is also a motivational speaker. “Shortly after I wrote "Get Going Girl, Lessons Learned From A Fourth Grader," which is a fun, motivational book based on the wonderful life-lessons I learned from Annie, my 10-year-old niece who died from cancer, I started doing motivational speaking,” she explains. “I went to a speakers bureau to sign up and they didn’t want me because I wasn’t famous." So once again, Sally was inspired to work around the system. “I decided to set up my own events,” she recalls. “I held monthly Go Girl Luncheons with guest speakers. Women just took the time out for one day to relax and rejuvenate themselves at these luncheons. If you take the time for yourself you will become a better person for it. You will be a better friend, mother, daughter, or worker. There are some valuable lessons we can learn from a fourth-grader and the most important lesson is just have fun. Enjoy your life every day. Do things you used to like to do but have not had the time to do. Dance, Sing. Play.”
Sally feels that she has led a very blessed life. “My husband and I live modestly and some might wonder why we don’t have real jobs,” she explains. “The answer to that is we feel you have to be happy in what you are doing. If it means to live in a smaller house or buy your clothes on sale or at a re-sell it shop, then it’s worth it if you are doing what you want. I’ve worked in radio, written for newspapers and magazines, worked retail, and in flower shops, but the happiest I am is when I know what I’m doing matters.”
Friendship matters, too, as Sally learns time and time again thanks to KD. Including her sisters as family is certainly not a stretch for Sally. In KD, she learned the value of friendship. “I asked Kathy Smith Bosch, one of my KD sisters and a friend from high school, to help with our first Rainbows for Kids party,” Sally explains. “She agreed to help but qualified it with ‘I really don’t have time to get involved right now since my son is still in school, but I’ll help you this one time. She has been with us for all 10 years and has helped develop new programs. Her husband and sons were volunteer coaches last summer when we started a baseball team for kids with cancer and their siblings. She is a wonderful person who I love like a sister for being with me through thick and thin.”
Her work is intriguing, her interests diverse, but Sally’s inspiration is quite simple yet powerful. “I volunteer because I feel like God has put me here to help people,” she says. “I think we all have ways we can contribute to society and we all do it in different ways. I have a great deal of empathy for people and I want to help them. I’ve been very lucky that I’ve found some great ways to get involved. Each of us has a gift. If you look at yourself and think you are not a success or have not done anything in your life, then think of all the people you have helped. Just taking the time to stop and talk to someone is so important. You are an important person, and you have a lot to contribute.”