Sallie Newton Calhoun VanItallie, wife of Ted VanItallie, and, for 20 years a resident of Boca Grande, died peacefully Dec. 29 at her home in Old Lyme, Conn.
Born in New York March 25, 1929, her father, Carl Elbridge Newton, joined the international law firm of White & Case a year later and was assigned to the firm's Paris office in the Place Vendome where he remained four years. In Paris, Sallie learned to speak French as her first language.
After their return to the United States, the Newton family lived in Bronxville, N.Y., where Sallie attended school and later graduated from the Madeira School in McLean, Va., in 1946.
She obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Vassar College in 1950, and married her first husband, Jose M. Calhoun. They built a full life in Connecticut -first in Suffield and then West Hartford, where they raised three children.
During those years, Sallie devoted her creative talent to various not-for-profit organizations, most notably the Wadsworth Atheneum, where she was president of the Women's Committee and instrumental in forming the Docents' Council, today a mainstay of the Atheneum's outreach.
Divorced from Jose in 1981, Sallie three years later married Dr. Theodore B. (Ted) VanItallie of New York and Fenwick, Conn. Upon his retirement from the medical faculty of Columbia University and its teaching hospital, St. Luke's Hospital Center, they moved to Boca Grande.
Fact Box
Contributions may be made in Sallie's memory to The Boca Grande Historical Society, P.O. Box 553, Boca Grande FL 33921. Connecticut residents are invited to contribute to the Docents' Council of the Wadsworth Atheneum, 600 Main St., Hartford, CT 06103.
There, Sallie co-founded with Ted and three other couples, the Boca Grande Historical Society and Museum. She served BGHS as a board member and, for two terms, as its president.
During their years of association with BGHS, Sallie and Ted conceived and produced a series of local history-oriented exhibitions, and contributed in many ways to the preservation of the fascinating history of this special barrier island.
Sallie also was honored to serve several years on the Board of Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass. After 20 years in Boca Grande, Sallie and Ted moved north to live full-time in their summer home in Old Lyme.
She is survived by her husband, Ted, children, Jake, Celia and Nancy; two sons-in-law, Phillip Brink of West Harford and Robert Firger of Bloomfield, and five grandchildren, Caroline Louise Stevens, Cameron Calhoun Stevens, Avery Baldwin Brink, Paige Calhoun Brink and Mackenzie Ellis Brink.
Contributions may be made in Sallie's memory to The Boca Grande Historical Society, P.O. Box 553, Boca Grande FL 33921. Connecticut residents are invited to contribute to the Docents' Council of the Wadsworth Atheneum, 600 Main St., Hartford, CT 06103.
