: Miss Sally Gleason was first introduced in October 1983 when Josh Lewis went to Cross Creek to search for his father, the missing H.B. Lewis. Miss Sally informed Josh that H.B. was nowhere near Cross Creek, but it got Sally curious as to his whereabouts herself. Later, in 1984, Miss Sally would appear from time to time at Cross Creek when the Lewises or Reva Shayne were there. Miss Sally was there, and almost got in the way, when Reva and H.B. married that year. She was also was instrumental in helping Rick Bauer and Phillip Spaulding track down Roxie Shayne near the end of 1984. Soon after, Sally made her way to Springfield to visit her son, Kyle Sampson, who was planning to get revenge on the Lewis family and take over Lewis Oil. A raunchy Southern girl with a racy past, Sally was nothing like her suave, urbane son. In early 1985, Sally confessed to her old lover, H.B., the motive behind Kyle's animosity toward the Lewis family: Kyle believed that H.B. was his biological father. Though she and H.B. knew this to be false, they both decided to make him believe it was the truth in the hopes that he'd end his feud with H.B.'s oldest son, Billy, who hated Kyle and also wanted him dead.

About the time this was going on, Sally was horrified to learn that Kyle was in love with H.B.'s wife, Reva. Detesting Reva, Sally brought Kyle's old girlfriend, Maeve Stoddard, and Reva's wayward father, Hawk, to town in the hopes that they would break up the happy couple. Though Maeve initially refused to actively break up the couple, Kyle ended up turning to Maeve when Reva temporarily went back to H.B. and he got her pregnant. Later, Kyle and Reva reconciled and Sally was horrified when Reva discovered Sally's dirty little secret with the help of an old photo of Sally's: she was Billy Lewis's real mother! During Kyle and Reva's almost- wedding, Reva told Kyle that Sally and HB lied about him being H.B.'s son. Not long after, Kyle learned that Maeve was pregnant and married her to give their child a name. In 1986, Sally, with the support of H.B., was forced to confess to Billy that she was his real mother. Angry at first, he finally accepted her as his mother and also Kyle as his brother. However, Sally still didn't want to tell Kyle who his real father was. About this time, Sally's old friend, Cardinal John Malone, visited and Sally finally confirmed to him what he suspected: he was Kyle's real father. As Cardinal, John was once Sally's client when she was a high class call girl and when Kyle was conceived, Sally kept it a secret to preserve his reputation. After that revelation, John had a warm reunion with his son and then left town.

Her secrets out, Sally could only watch helplessly when Kyle's marriage fell apart and he planned his wedding to Reva. In the midst of this, Maeve left Springfield and, apparently, lost her baby. Or so everyone thought. On his and Reva's wedding day, Maeve confessed that she'd lied and the orphan child (Ben) that Kyle was trying to keep away from her was in fact their son. After this revelation, Reva left Kyle and Kyle left town, in January 1987, with Sally following him.

Mere months later, Reva learned from a letter from Kyle that he had moved on with his life and was marrying another. However, tragedy soon struck when Reva learned that Kyle and his fiancée were involved in a plane crash. Though his fiancée was dead, Kyle survived but was left comatose. Distraught, Sally tried to sue Reva for custody of her daughter, Marah. Though the tests showed Marah was Kyle's daughter, Sally soon learned that that was a lie. In an attack of conscience, Sally decided to do the right thing and flew to Hawaii to tell Josh that he was Marah's father. Sally was persuaded to wait until after he'd married Sonni Carrerra, to tell him the news. Tragically, just as she was about to do so, Sally, with Alexandra Spaulding by her side, suffered a major heart attack and died.