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.
