It is with great sorrow that we announce the peaceful passing of Dr. Sara Packard on July 21, 2026, at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, Vt. She was born on July 30, 1954 in Burlington, Vt., and lived in its environs her entire life. Sara grew up in Williston, the eldest of five sisters. From an early age, she had an intrinsic exuberance for life and a native, unquenchable curiosity that powered her lifelong love of learning.
As an undergrad at the University of Vermont, she studied botany — and loved growing plants. Gardening was always central to her life — a state of being she inherited from her mother and grandparents. She kept a productive vegetable plot at Tommy Thompson Community Gardens for 20 years or more, and flower gardening and landscaping projects were constant pursuits in tandem.
The natural world and the outdoors gave her deep joy and delight. Lake Iroquois, Lake Champlain and the beautiful Maine ocean were among her familiar and favorite places. She gravitated toward the water and loved being anywhere on, in or near it — swimming, first and foremost, as well as canoeing, kayaking or rowing. In the winter months, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing ever beckoned. Her active life included hiking and bicycling day trips, tours, and even tristate treks across northern New England, to Maine and Canada!
She graduated from UVM in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Drawn to the helping professions and medicine, in the ’70s and ’80s she volunteered for Champlain Area Agency on Aging (now Age Well) and worked as both an EKG and EEG technician at Fletcher Allen Hospital. Deciding to return to school to pursue a medical degree, Sara earned her MD from UVM Medical School in 1990 and then entered private practice (internal medicine) in Shelburne in 1993. That practice grew to include approximately 3,000 patients. The work was demanding but gratifying to her. She cared deeply for her patients, devoting an enormous amount of her personal time and energy to deliver her best to them. Her medical interests were expansive, and she at times offered aspects of holistic and Ayurvedic modalities for her patients to consider. Outside of the workday, she truly was the family doctor, sharing her knowledge and expertise with relatives and friends when sought or needed in emergencies, large and small. In explaining medical matters, she was patient and accessible, to impart fuller and thorough understanding. Generous in nature, she loved sharing her time and interests with others!
After retiring, she kept busy with pursuits such as painting, jewelry making, reading, and cooking and baking for family, friends and community. She had cooked at Rowe Camp in Massachusetts in her early twenties and for several years in later life, “Dr. Sara” regularly delighted in making and delivering whole dinners (including holiday turkey menus) for guests at Hope Lodge (where out-of-town cancer patients and family members may stay while receiving treatment at the hospital). She was always sharing her cooking and beautiful cakes for special events with family and friends.
Sara had a good sense of fun and humor and enjoyed sharing stories, jokes, poetry, music and ideas. She loved singing! Her gleeful and infectious laughter, with unrestrained guffaws, resonated throughout the room and excited similar merriment among all present! She had many close friends who meant the world to her and were friends for life.
Sara was humble in her undying appreciation for medical efforts and advancements made in the service of alleviating illness and suffering. When she became a patient herself, she was sincerely moved by, and grateful for, the compassionate and dedicated help of her colleagues — on every professional level. These included, most recently, the people involved in all aspects of her care during, and through, her experience of terminal lymphoma. She commended all, endlessly — and so do we, her family and extended family. Special gratitude is extended to Judy Johnson, NP; Dr. Alicia Cunningham; Dr. Paul Unger; and Dr. Nataniel Lester-Cole; as well as the staff at McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, for the beautiful kindness shown as Sara transitioned from this life to the next.
Sara was predeceased by her mother, Jane Packard Bryant; and her father, Artemas Packard. She leaves her beloved stepfather, Cy Bryant; sisters, Susan Sesera, Deborah Packard, Nancy Packard and Angela Bull; stepbrother, Weylan (“Woody”) Bryant; dear friend Virginia Ringey; eight nieces and nephews (and their children); many treasured cousins, aunts and uncles; and wonderful, devoted, cherished friends, who forever remain family!
As one cousin put it, ”Sara was a beautiful phenomenon. Her humanity and service to others are forever a living legacy.”
A Celebration of Life will be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Burlington in the fall, time and date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the McClure Miller Respite House or Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières). The family asks that, in Sara’s memory, you stop — to admire a flower or notice something that is less ordinary than at first glance…
This article appears in August 19 • 2026.