Sally was born Sarah Russell in Decatur, Georgia on March 10,
1942, the 3rd of 7 children of Alexander Brevard and Sarah Isabell
Eaton Russell. Sally passed away peacefully October 31st, 2022 with
her family by her bedside. She is predeceased by her sister Patience
Elizabeth and survived by her husband Leslie Warrington, by siblings
Alexander Brevard Jr. (Judith Annabel), Susan Way (Raymond Harbin),
John Davidson, Nancy Carolyn , and Robert Bruce (Deborah Kay), and by
daughters Nancy Elizabeth (Brian Patrick) and Jessica Brevard (Howard
John). She was a very proud grandmother to Fielding Cathal, SarahJean
Elizabeth (Alexander Thomas), JuliaKay Patricia, Mary Georgia, Lucy
Patience and Susan Ottolene. Sally chose the title “Grand
Mother” — nothing less would do. And she was!
Sally created many lifelong friendships from the very
start. She had a great sense of adventure and, even as a child, was a
leading member of the self-styled Winder Adventure Girls, or WAGs, in
her home town of Winder, Georgia. Those girls were kindred spirits,
much like those espoused by Anne of Green Gables, a favourite girlhood
novel of Sally’s, and remained close lifelong soulmates.
Sally graduated Magna Cum Laude from the
University of Georgia and, together with a Masters Degree in French
Literature, went on to teach English and French in both High School
and College.
She was proud to be known as a
teacher. Good education is vitally important within
Sally’s family and she was not shy to encourage her
daughters and her grandchildren to study, through example and through
sponsoring their college and music studies. Not surprisingly, she
loved to hear of their progress and their success.
Her sense of adventure and professional development combined when
she took her two teenage daughters to live and study for a year in
France. Home-grown high school was never the same for Nan and Jess
after this: they had seen a wider horizon. Sally was always so
thankful she took the risk to take that year in France. You
can’t encompass the gift they found, of understanding more
of themselves and of the world. As a result Nan, inspired by
her mama’s example, embraced everything francophile and went
on to teach French in high school for 31 years.
Sally was also admired as a writer, providing a weekly column for
several newspapers across Georgia and South Carolina for many years,
and publishing several books. She had a remarkable talent
for story-telling, oral and literary both. Her books, including
“Shatter Me With Dawn” and “Latitude of Home”,
show a deep love of people and place. Sally was grounded in Georgia
but her homes were the peoples and places and times she shared. She
showcased this by passing on the memory of her mother to future
generations through taking the nickname of her childhood home,
“Bedlam Ridge”, and applying it to a cabin she and Les built
in the Wyoming mountains as “Bedlam Removed” to denote both
its tranquility and its legacy.
Family was
incredibly important to Sally. Her extended family includes
38 first cousins and countless descendants, and Sally was active in
recording and recounting the history of her clan for 20
years. She collaborated with the University of Georgia
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research & Studies
over several years, helping to collect and archive a wealth of family
papers. She used her storytelling skills to bring this
history to life as editor and publisher of the annual family magazine,
“The Russell Herald”, that was eagerly read during a 4-day
annual gathering of the Russell family each June.
Sally met her husband-to-be in France also, during a week-long
horseback riding tour of the Loire region. Both she and Les had a deep
love of horses and, after moving to England following their wedding,
they continued to ride together for many years. These were beautiful
years, bonding their love. They loved to explore rural
Britain, taking many hikes along its public footpaths. But, if there
were a choice of travelled or less-travelled, Sally would choose the
adventure of the less-travelled, even if it wasn’t a
footpath.
Work opportunities for Les brought
Sally to Canada, first to Ontario and then to PEI. She delighted in
sharing Anne Shirley’s home-place with her children and
grandchildren, for whom the Anne of Green Gables books also became
childhood favourites. Not surprisingly, Sally made many more deep
friends and loved her years and welcome in Canada and especially to
the island. She will be missed.
Memorial and
celebration of her life will be at Hillcrest United Church on November
7th, at 2 p.m with reception to follow downstairs at Hillcrest United
Church. Her ashes will be scattered on PEI, in Wyoming, in England and
Wales, and in her family cemetery in Georgia.
No flowers. Donations in her memory may be to either: “Sarah
Eaton Russell Hand Up For Nurses Scholarship Fund”, a foundation
sponsoring nursing students and named for Sally’s mother, a
registered nurse for some 40 years; or to the “Harvey and Dot
Moore Legacy Waterfowl Sanctuary”, a wildlife centre near
Montague where Sally felt particularly close to nature and felt deep
peace as she walked its trails countless times; or to a charity of
your choice. For detailed donation instructions, please
contact Secretary (Nancy), Hillcrest United Church, 902 838
2698
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Sally Warrington 1942 2022..
ferguson-logan Montague funeral home
Death notice for the town of: Montague, Province: I-P-E