Patricia Faust Sayre of Vineyard Haven died on October 4, 2012, in Boston following a brief illness at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. She was 75.
Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert R. Faust of Woodbury, Connecticut, she prepared at Elgin Academy, Elgin, Illinois, and was a member of the Class of 1959 at the University of Connecticut where she began a lifetime membership in Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Ms. Sayre moved to the Vineyard from Westport, Conn., in 1970, becoming a pioneer teacher in “Head Start” established on Martha’s Vineyard during the Johnson Administration. She later worked at Martha’s Vineyard Travel, Avenue To Travel and Eurosport Tours where she made many Island friends.
An avid gardener, she was a long-time member of the Vineyard Haven Garden Club. Her community involvement included service on the Grace Church Episcopal Altar Guild and Trustee Board of the Vineyard Haven Public Library. Her love of skiing, fostered by long stays in St. Anton, Austria, made many sportive friends on two continents.
An active committeewoman, she volunteered for more than a decade in fundraising for the Island’s Nathan Mayhew Seminars “Celebrity Tennis.” In the 1990s, Ms. Sayre founded Nostalgia, Ltd. Handcrafts which sold at the Tisbury Women’s Co-operative, Island shops and throughout New England, as far north as Zeb’s General Store, North Conway, N.H. When not traveling the world in retirement, she was devoted to her grandchildren and home gardening.
She was married to the late Woodrow Wilson Sayre of West Chop and is survived by her companion, Bruce E. Doten, of Vineyard Haven, her son, Jeffrey Redington Sayre, and daughter-in-law, Dawn Sayre, of Oak Bluffs and their children, Jack and Julia; also, by her daughter, Elizabeth D.M. Badaracco, and son-in-law, John Badaracco, of Framingham, and their children, Alexander and Hailey.
Following cremation, a memorial service is planned at Grace Episcopal Church, 36 Woodlawn Avenue, Vineyard Haven at 2 pm, November 17. Those wishing to remember “Pat” are invited to make contributions in her name to Polly Hill Arboretum, P.O. Box 561, West Tisbury, MA, 02575.