In Memoriam: Sarah Vandegrift Eldridge

Longtime United Campus Workers (Communications Workers of America Local 3821) member leader Sarah Vandegrift Eldridge (born 1984) died on January 2, 2026, after surviving more than 2.5 years living with triple-negative breast cancer. Sarah, a tenured associate professor of German at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, leaves behind a life filled with union activism, having spent more than 13 years organizing and leading fellow members in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, chapter of United Campus Workers Southeast. Sarah served as UTK chapter vice-president 2018-2020.

Sarah was one of the most driven, analytically rigorous, politically astute, and organized member leaders in our union. She modeled what it means to engage fully in our collective work as a union, regularly bringing her young daughters Elena and Isabelle Johnston to monthly chapter meetings and encouraging her coworkers across the university, including her husband Steve Johnston, a renowned physicist, to participate meaningfully in creating our labor community. She ran efficient and effective meetings and enthusiastically welcomed members to join in our work.

Sarah often stated that she was proud to be a member of a wall-to-wall union, standing in solidarity with her fellow public workers no matter whether they ran computer systems, performed cleaning tasks, managed scientific facilities, taught university classes, or researched, for example, 18th-century German literature, Sarah’s area of specialization.

Sarah served as an inspiration to her coworkers and fellow union members because she wasn’t afraid to speak the truth. Sarah believed deeply in the right of workers to have a voice in their workplaces and organized her life around meetings and actions. She always showed up for her fellow members. She also wrote eloquently about the relationship between parenting and organizing in higher education.

Sarah is survived by her husband Steve Johnston, daughters Elena and Isabelle, parents Joan Vandegrift and Richard Eldridge, sister Hannah Vandegrift Eldridge (Marina Nasrin Sharifi), and brother Jonathan Vandegrift Eldridge, as well as an extended network of family and friends, including her fellow union members, who will strive to live up to her example.

All are invited to join family, friends, coworkers, and union members for a memorial service honoring Sarah’s life at 1 PM on Sunday, January 11, 2026, at the CWA Union Hall, 1415 Elm Street, Knoxville, TN, 37921. Parking is available at the Probation Center across the street.