Sally Smith Obituary (1935 – 2022) – Laguna Hills, CA – Legacy.com
Sally Holmes Smith, whose devotion to family, faith and lifelong friendships was well-known to all who crossed her path, died July 9 of natural causes. She was 86, and had lived most recently at The Willows Christian Science retirement community in Laguna Hills, Calif.
Sally Holmes was born Sept. 14, 1935, in Scarsdale, N.Y., on the sixth wedding anniversary of her parents, Walter and Eleanor Holmes. She was the third of their four daughters.
Sally was immensely popular and talented as a student at Scarsdale High School, from which she graduated in 1953. She had starring roles in productions such as “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay” and “The Littlest Angel.” Sixty years later she was still attending class reunions and girl get-togethers in Boca Grande, Fla., with a dozen of her closest high school friends, who dubbed themselves “The Goddesses.”
Sally went on to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she majored in dance. She also was a cheerleader in the first year women were allowed to cheer on Wisconsin! At U-W she met Foster Clayton Smith, whom she married in Scarsdale on Nov. 29, 1957. Foster and Sally Smith had three boys and a girl, all of whom went on to graduate from college like their parents.
Foster and Sally Smith lived all over the U.S., beginning in Oceanside, Calif., when Foster served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Following his military service, Mr. Smith’s career in corporate communications took the family to Philadelphia, Pa., Bethesda, Md., Wilton, Ct., and Akron, Ohio.
Following her divorce in 1986, Sally moved to Boston, Mass., where she worked as a Human Resources representative for “The Mother Church” of the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The Mother Church is the headquarters of the Christian Science religion and all its publications, including the internationally renowned Christian Science Monitor. During her devout adherence to Christian Science, Sally would become First Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist in Wilton, Ct., and later Second Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist in Santa Barbara, Calif.
“It is a precious honor to have shared in dear Sally’s life so deeply,” wrote Susan Kantro, Sally’s best friend and fellow reader in the Santa Barbara church. “She was my soulmate and my treasured friend. I will miss her deeply, but her (Christian Science) testimonials and articles do live on in my heart.” Mrs. Kantro’s expression captures the essence of the many high regards Sally acquired during her long and winding yet straight and narrow journey through her mortal life to the divine eternity she fully expected.
During her fiercely independent and eternally optimistic life, Sally also lived in Evergreen and Denver, Colorado. In Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, California as well as Englewood, Florida. At an age when many people have surrendered to the limitations of health and mobility, Sally was still living life to the fullest on Englewood Beach in Florida. Every evening she walked down from her second-floor apartment to watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. But that wasn’t all. She stayed seated in her Adirondack beach chair another half-hour to watch the kaleidoscopic cloud formations. “Magnificent,” she called it, and then thanked God for “yet another glorious sunset.”
Sally is survived and lovingly remembered by her family. Three children: her son Scott and his wife Becky; her son David and his wife Cheryl; and her daughter Sarah Smith Fleek and husband Scott Fleek. She is survived by eight grandchildren: Dr. Clayton P. Smith and his wife Emily; Regan Smith; Charlie and Olivia Smith; Henry and Zoe Smith; and Evan and Ryan Fleek. She is also survived by her sister Jennifer Holmes and Jennifer’s husband Terry Jack; and by her former husband, Foster Smith. She is preceded in death by her parents, Eleanor and Walter Holmes; sisters Nancy and Patty; and son Jeffrey, who died in 2018.
Sally asked her family to not have any “fanfare surrounding her passing”. Therefore, no final funeral service is planned. She passed away surrounded by 10 members of her immediate family while sharing love and memories. She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way!
Published by Legacy Remembers on Aug. 13, 2022.