Sarah Fay Baird passed away peacefully at her home at The Gardens At Newbury Court in Concord on September 21, 2023, at the age of 98. She had been a resident of Newbury Court since 2009.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Sarah attended Beaver Country Day School in Brookline, Massachusetts, and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1947. She was accepted into the Stanford University Creative Writing Program as a Stegner Fellow. Her work has been published in Mademoiselle magazine, The Stanford Review, The Antioch Review, and The Boston Globe. Her short story “The Death of Pierce” was published in The New Yorker magazine in 1951. She was a MacDowell fellow in literature in 1955 and again in 1970 and continued to write and study literature throughout her life.
Sarah married Gordon P. Baird in 1956, and the couple lived in Baltimore, MD, until 1966. A resident of Lincoln, MA, from 1968 until 2009, she was active in the Lincoln Old Town Hall Exchange and the Lincoln Garden Club. The family enjoyed summers on Squam Lake, NH, from 1974 until 2000, after Gordon’s death in 1997.
Sarah was a longtime advocate for children’s literacy and women’s rights, an avid traveler, and a passionate enthusiast of gardening, architecture, and the preservation of open space. Her good health and physical stamina throughout her life were remarkable. In 2004, at the age of 80, she rode a bus to Washington for over 20 hours roundtrip to participate in the national March for Women’s Lives. She continued traveling in North America and Europe well into her eighties.
She is survived by her daughter Fay Baird of Micanopy, FL, and grandson Lee Baird Staley of Providence, RI; her son William Baird of Newton, MA, and grandson Charles Gordon Baird; stepsons Jonathan Baird and Gordon Baird, Jr. of Gloucester, MA., their wives Linda Baird and JoeAnn Hart, and step-grandchildren Joanna Blabac, Jake Baird, Abigail Waldman, Morgan Everson, and Wilder Baird.
A private memorial service will be held at the Duvall Chapel at Newbury Court, 80 Deaconess Road, Concord, MA.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Sarah Lawrence College, 1 Mead Way, Bronxville, NY 10708
