Sarah (Sally) Russell Drake Streetman, died October 26, 2019 in Saluda. Sally was born March 28, 1944 in Winter Haven, Florida, daughter of the late Julia Augusta Farrior Drake and the late Edward Drake Jr. Raised in High Point, N.C., she attended the University of Alabama, Sullins College, and graduated from East Carolina University. In rural Maine, she started a family and found a community of artists that fueled her creative spirit. Her heart was home on the coast of South Carolina for its beaches and endless camellia and azalea bushes. She later built a life in Tidewater Virginia surrounded by nature, daffodils, and history.
Inspired by Matisse, O’Keefe, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Picasso, Sally spent a lifetime painting in bold colors with acrylic and pastel, and exhibited extensively throughout the South and Northeast. She was part of the pilot program of the Virginia Commission for the Arts to bring artists to college campuses. As a lifelong art teacher (most recently at Christchurch School) and mentor to young people, she offered painting workshops for gifted and talented children in public and private schools, instruction in figure drawing, designed stage sets, lectured on art, and organized exhibits up and down the East Coast.
Sally rejoiced in music and loved to dance, spending more than two decades assisting in the chamber music gatherings at the home of Patti McGee during the internationally recognized Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C. She loved Christmas and holidays, and will be remembered for decorating historic buildings and homes in Virginia (including the Governor’s Mansion, The University of William and Mary, and the Virginia Theological Seminary) and in South Carolina, as well as dressing up as a witch to visit schools during Halloween for more than 30 years.
Being raised in the deep south with a family legacy that included the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Jamestown Society, Sally spent a lifetime standing up for those who did not have a voice. She spoke out on behalf of the African-American community during the 1950s and 60s, taught African-American history at local public schools, and art as the only “white teacher” at one of the last one-room, African-American schoolhouses left in the U.S. Providing free classes at Holy Cross Faith Memorial School in S.C. alongside her beloved friend, Miss Ruby Forsythe, she championed to preserve and recognize the work of traditional African-American quiltmakers and folk artists, later expanding that work with the McKissick Museum in Columbia, S.C. She was outspoken in standing up for human rights and believed all people have a right to be treated with dignity.
A licensed federal wildlife rehabilitator, Sally had a special love for the care of baby mammals, migratory birds, and birds of prey. She had 11 West Highland White Terriers in her life, most named Rob “Robbie” Roy the Highland Rogue, and was grandmother to countless Maine Coon cats. She was proud to be a lifelong Episcopalian and a Democrat, a member of the Junior League of America, a Kappa Delta, and the only female brother of the National Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
She is survived by Katherine Drake Streetman of Saluda (previously Seattle, Wash.); Leah Farrior Streetman of New York, N.Y.; Burgin Eaves Streetman-Lambrecht and her husband, William Edward Lambrecht, and her grandson Charles August Lambrecht of San Antonio, Tex.; Marc Mueller of Brooklyn, N.Y.; John Rueger III of Atlanta, Ga.; and Jonathan Myers of County Cork, Ireland.
She was preceded in death by her beloved grandparents, Dr. Joseph Brown Farrior Sr. and Evelyn Gray Searcy Farrior of Tampa, Florida; her mother and father; and her sister, Julia Lee Drake of Pawley’s Island, S.C.
The Funeral service will be at Old All Saints Church in Pawley’s Island, S.C., on March 12, 2020. A private celebration in Middlesex County will take place on Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at 6 p.m. For location information, please email info@oakleanyc.com and visit sarahdrakestreetman.com.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Sally’s name to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
