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Sally Woodbury Handy, 86, of Essex passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on Aug. 21. Sally was born in Mineola, New York, on Jan. 31, 1930, to Roliston Gibson and Eleanor (Russell) Woodbury.

Sally graduated from The Greenwood School and Colby-Sawyer College. In 1949, she met her future husband, Parker Douglas Handy III during a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Elizabeth and they were married in Bronxville, New York, in December 1951. Parker predeceased Sally this July. Sally and Parker were the parents of five daughters whom they raised in Fairfield.

Sally was an avid outdoorswoman. Her love of outdoor activities began in her childhood when she began swimming, boating, and water skiing at her family’s summer home in Dry Mills, Maine. Winter activities of ice skating and skiing became lifetime pursuits in North Conway, New Hampshire, at Cranmore Mountain, the resort her great-uncle Harvey Dow Gibson founded in the 1930s. Sally’s ardor for adventure and all sporting activities continued well into her adulthood. She and Parker pursued their love of fishing, and duck and upland bird hunting while traveling the world.

She raised horses on the couple’s Greenfield Hill farm and hunted fox with the Fairfield County Hunt for many years. Her passion for travel led her to a career in the travel business, where she worked for Pequot Travel Agency in Southport and Crossroads Travel Agency in Old Lyme. She relished traveling with family and friends and she organized sailing, skiing, fishing, hunting, and sightseeing adventures all around the world. Parker and Sally moved from Fairfield to Lyme in 1980 to the land that Parker’s family had purchased in 1945 on Ram’s Horn Creek. Sally could often be found tending her vegetable and flower gardens, mowing the fields on her tractor, and rowing, kayaking, or swimming with her grandchildren in the Connecticut River in front of their home. Her youthful spirit was a driving force that brought much joy to her family and friends.

Sally’s other pastimes were needlework and painting. Her elegant needlework creations, oil paintings of rural scenes, still lifes, and animals reflected subjects deeply meaningful to her, and were gifts she lovingly gave to her children and grandchildren. With her husband, Sally was a supporter of Ducks Unlimited, Connecticut Audubon Society, Atlantic Salmon Federation, and the National Wildlife Federation. She was also a member of the Fairfield Junior League and served as a volunteer at Bridgeport Hospital, Auxiliary of Child and Family Services, and High Hopes Therapeutic Riding.

Sally is survived by her daughters Susan H. Stover and her husband Charles W. Collier of Dublin, New Hampshire; Gretchen H. Comstock and her husband Harwood B. of Essex; Nancy H. Grogan and her husband Michael B. of Dedham, Massachusetts; Pamela H. Shepley and her husband Roger D. of Dedham, Massachusetts; and Sally R. Handy and her husband Christopher S. Pizey of Peaks Island, Maine. She is also survived by her sister Suzanne Woodbury Gerry of North Yarmouth, Maine; twelve grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Sally or “Sassy,” nicknamed by her father and known by all, was beloved and will be remembered as a beautiful, loving, caring, and dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, and will be dearly missed by all.

A memorial service for Sally and Parker will be held on Sunday, Sept. 25 at the Old Lyme Congregational Church at 2:00 p.m. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers contributions be made in Sally’s honor to the Connecticut Audubon Society, 314 Unquowa Rd., Fairfield, CT 06824. To share a memory of Sally or send a condolence to her family, please visit www.rwwfh.com. Arrangements by Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home, Centerbrook.