Obituary : Sarah Y. Rentschler
Published: September 10, 2009
Sarah Yorke (Rah) Rentschler of Hudson, N.Y., died suddenly of heart failure on Sept. 6, in Hudson. She was 59 years old.
Born in 1950 in Minneapolis, Minn., she spent her childhood in Lake Forest, Ill. She attended the Ethel Walker School and Sarah Lawrence College, before setting down roots in New York City. She managed the renowned Vorpal Gallery in Soho, and subsequently managed the Vorpal in San Francisco. Returning to Manhattan, she opened the Sarah Y. Rentschler Gallery in penthouse space in Chelsea, with later locations on Greene Street in Soho, in Bridgehampton and Water Mill, New York, and finally on Warren Street in Hudson, where she brought many emerging artists into focus.
She had a stint as a features writer at the San Francisco Progress, a weekly newspaper edited and published by her father, William H. Rentschler, of whom she was a chip off the old block. Sarah later founded the Complicated Goat caterers with her longtime love, Daniel Bleckinger. Based in Hudson, concocting moveable feasts near and far, the company included cooking classes for kids.
Sarah was an avid reader and writer, leaving behind many works in progress. She was a force of nature, with an incredible eye, an innate sense of style, and an enormous and loyal heart. Sarah was a rebel who was often known to say, "What trouble can we get into?" There was no one like her. She was "uni-Q," in the words of her adoring mother, Sylvia.
Over her lifetime, Sarah mothered and loved a menagerie of domestic and wild animals. There were goats, cats, dogs, and an indoor-outdoor chicken named Red.
She is survived by Daniel J. Bleckinger of Hudson, N.Y.; his children, Amber Wedin of New York City; Mark Wedin of Portland, Ore.; mother, Sylvia Angevin Thompson of Edgartown and Geneva, Ill.; father, William Henry Rentschler of Hamilton; siblings Peter Ferris Rentschler of Pensacola, Fla.; Mary Angevin Rentschler of Vineyard Haven; Phoebe Rentschler Cole of Weston, Conn.; Alexandra Angevin Thompson of Geneva, Ill.; Hope Rentschler Garbo of Ross, Calif.; stepsiblings Lydia Thompson Whitehead of Chevy Chase, Md.; and Wallace Underwood Thompson of St. Charles, Ill.
Sarah was Auntie Mame to the following nieces and nephews: Christine Angevin Rentschler; Peter Gadsden Rentschler; William Christopher Rentschler; Sophie Angevin Cole; Albion Angevin Alley; Henry Walker Cole; Lucie Snowdon Garbo; Mason Henry Garbo; and Bella Hanson Garbo.
Sarah was pre-deceased by her cherished stepfather George Wallace Thompson of Geneva, Ill.
A memorial service will be held at Eyebrow Farm, 111 Ten Broeck Lane, Hudson, N.Y., followed by burial and a celebration of her life, on September 12, at 11 am, at Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Animalkind at 721 Warren Street, Hudson and Dan Bleckinger's Free Spirits Children's Tennis Development of Hudson.
Arrangements are by James Warfield Funeral Home, 110 Green Street, Hudson, N.Y. 12534-2327. Telephone number: 518-828-3371.
