Sally Campbell Woodhall, 88, of Bethlehem, Connecticut, was a beloved mother and grandmother, passionate educator, and co-founder of The Woodhall School. She died on October 3. Born Sally Campbell on June 18, 1938, in Norwalk, Connecticut, she was the younger daughter of the late Francis and Abbie Savage Campbell. Sally spent many happy times at the Darien home of her Irish-born grandmother, Sarah Savage. There she and her sister, the youngest members of a large extended family, were lovingly doted on not just by ‘Nana Savage,’ but by many Magee, Finch, Brooks, Robinson, and Halloran aunts, uncles, and cousins."

She attended St. Joseph school in South Norwalk and, after graduating from Sacred Heart Academy in Stamford, Sally joined a convent in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the Congregation des Soeurs Hospitalières de Saint-Thomas de Villeneuve, becoming a novitiate and completing her studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Ultimately, she returned to the United States and earned her masters degree in Romance Languages and Theology at Fordham University, teaching religion at Good Counsel College in White Plains, NY. She met Jonathan Woodhall, a fellow educator, and they were married in 1968. Sally took time away from teaching to raise their three children: Abigail, Sarah, and Matthew. When Jonathan became Headmaster of The Oxford Academy in Westbrook, CT, Sally returned to education, teaching world languages and then serving as Director of Admission at the school.

Sally and Jonathan then founded The Woodhall School in Bethlehem, CT with a group of dedicated educators and friends who believed in a different way of helping students, particularly boys, who were struggling. The school opened in September 1983 with five students and five teachers, with Mrs. Woodhall serving as the school’s Founding Head of School. During her twenty-five year tenure, Sally defined the vision of a school community that embraced an individualized and holistic approach to education, which at once celebrated and held accountable bright young men who had not found success in other school environments. Unique among boarding school educators at the time, Mrs. Woodhall championed the Communications Program – a process for developing skills of self-reflection and self-expression with accountability for the students and teachers. Mrs. Woodhall could be strict yet loving, serious but playful, opinionated yet accepting, and both fearless and wise. For Mrs. Woodhall, the boys always came first. She rarely gave up on a boy, and each boy knew it. Many alumni recount that Mrs. Woodhall and the school changed and, in many instances, saved their lives.

Sally was active in her town community, serving on the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Library Board of Trustees in Bethlehem, mentoring countless community members, and continuing to study and lecture on spiritual studies, notably on the works of Teilhard De Chardin. She also earned a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Mariandale Center of the Dominican Sisters of Hope.She delighted in her six grandchildren, attending their many theatre performances, recitals, concerts, sporting events, and commencements. She was a lifelong reader, fluent in French, and a lover of language in all its forms. She was an eager conversationalist and storyteller, and she took a genuine interest in connecting with and helping others. Self-professed as someone who could not sit still, she was an avid walker, conversing with neighbors and Woodhall students and teachers with her dog by her side.

Sally is survived by her two children, Sarah Woodhall Hoffert and her husband, Alexander Hoffert, of Sandy Hook, CT and Matthew C. Woodhall and his wife, Jennie Panchy, of Bethlehem; her six beloved grandchildren, Charles Reycroft, Harrison Hoffert, Kate Hoffert, Samantha Hoffert, Maya Woodhall, and Zoë Woodhall. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her sister, MaryJane Carpenter of East Norwalk, her former husband, Jonathan A. Woodhall, of Southern Pines, NC, and her eldest daughter, Abigail J. Woodhall of Bethlehem.

Visitation will be held at Munson-Lovetere Funeral Home, 2 School Street, Woodbury, CT from 5pm - 7pm on Thursday, October 8. The funeral mass will be held at Lourdes Shrine, 50 Monfort Road, Litchfield at 10am on Friday October 9, followed by a burial service at Evergreen Cemetery in Bethlehem, and a reception at The Woodhall School.

Donations in her memory can be made to The Sally Campbell Woodhall Scholarship Fund at The Woodhall School, 58 Harrison Lane, Bethlehem, CT 06751.