Sally Martyn Lacy died on October 17, 2025, at the age of 97.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Herbert Vivian Martyn and Frances Dunham Martyn, Sally attended Wellesley (BA) and Harvard (MEd) and in 1955 married MIT man Thomas Bowditch Lacy. They raised their family and many pets in Brookside, N.J. Sally briefly worked as a special education teacher, but her true callings were as an animal portrait artist and advocate for working border collies.
Her first border collie, Keswick, inspired Sally’s 70-year commitment to the breed. She was drawn to Scotland to study the intelligence and instinct of working border collies and their relationship with their shepherds. When she and Tom moved to southern Ohio, Sally became a skilled dog handler and ably competed in sheepdog trials. She was the first woman to compete against men in the United States Border Collie Handlers Association (USBCHA) National Finals.
Sally chaired the genetics committee of the New England Border Collie Association (NEBCA) and coordinated countless clinics to screen potential breeding dogs for collie eye anomaly. Dedicated to breeding based on herding instinct and talent rather than on a physical standard, Sally unsuccessfully campaigned to stop the American Kennel Club (AKC) from recognizing the breed.
Sally and Tom retired to Fitzwilliam, N.H., where she continued to breed sheep and border collies. She supported many novice handlers by sponsoring training clinics with Scottish herding masters and still managed to marry farm life with really good tea, NPR, twice-cooked Scottish oatmeal and visits to the Boston Symphony.
After Tom’s death, Sally moved to Jericho, Vt., where, at 86, she traded in her large dog-friendly RV camper for a Connemara pony named Hope. She credited Hope for her recovery from a serious stroke in 2021. In 2022, with a combined age of 115, Sally and Hope completed the Century Club Ride, a judged dressage test for owner-horse pairs whose combined ages surpass 100. Sally rode Hope one last time on her 95th birthday.
Sally is predeceased by her husband, Thomas Bowditch Lacy; brother, William Dunham Martyn; and nephews, David Lacy and Peter Martyn. She is survived by her children, Charles Martyn Lacy (Gaye Symington), Paul Matthews Lacy and Kathryn Lacy Marshall (David Marshall); grandchildren, Emily Marshall (Will Matthews), Samuel Lacy (Carmen Lacy), Mary Lacy (Paul Coyne), Benjamin Marshall (Sarah Sandhaus) and Thomas Lacy; great-grandchild, Parker Marshall; numerous nieces and nephews; and her close friend and co-adventurer, Lorna McMaster.
Over this summer and fall, many friends from her riding stables and her Jericho, West Bolton and Underhill communities have emailed and visited her, sharing their observations and poetry about bees, insects, birds, deer, flowers, and other wonders from the wetlands, woods, gardens and trails around them. Sally so appreciated seeing that familiar natural world through their eyes.
In addition to friends and neighbors, the Lacy family appreciates the care and support provided by Dr. Marie Sandoval and the skilled and caring teams at Home Care Assistance of Vermont, Mansfield Place in Essex, and the University of Vermont Home Health & Hospice.
Please contact a member of the family if you would like to join a gathering, remotely or in person, to celebrate Sally this coming winter, or for Sally’s instructions on preparing oatmeal properly.
This article appears in The Tech Issue 2025.
Hoping to know a time when her Celebration Of Life might happen, if not already missed.