SARAH GUARINO

Sarah Hutchinson Guarino, 89, of Las Vegas, passed away May 7, 2018, at Infinity Hospice of cancer. Mrs. Guarino was an accomplished artist, avid Bridge player, voracious reader, gardener and animal lover. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. She was graduated from George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, in 1946, and attended Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she studied language. She moved to New York City and studied at the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School, working part-time as a secretary. However, modeling was more her style and she trained at the Barbizon School, eventually becoming a hat model. She met Michael Guarino, partner in Guarino Marble Works of Belleville, New Jersey, in 1950 and after a whirlwind romance, they eloped and married in Bermuda. A formal wedding was held in Trenton a few months later in 1951. The couple began their life together in Newark, but built a home and moved to Rumson, New Jersey, in 1956. She travelled the world with her husband, including extensive trips to China, Thailand, the British Isles, and Europe. Mr. Guarino passed away in 2005. Mrs. Guarino was proud of her family’s history, traceable back to the first colonial settlers. She was a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames XVII Century (Samoset Chapter), Sons and Daughters of the Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar, Dames of the Court of Honor, Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. Her painting was a constant throughout her life as well. She studied with Yvonne Aubert, a force in the art community in New Jersey. She exhibited work at local art shows and earned recognition in a few juried events. Her work focused on the world around her, in watercolor and oil, she captured landscapes, often of the seashore, and still lives. In New Jersey, Mrs. Guarino was an active member of the Junior League of Monmouth County, the Monmouth Park Charity Ball committee, the Monmouth County Hunt and Race Meet and other philanthropic activities. She and her husband were part-owners of the thoroughbred racing stable LOTSOC, an acronym for Long on Tradition, Short on Cash, with their friends, Amory and Helen Haskell. In the 1980s and 1990s, Mrs. Guarino dusted off her secretarial skills and worked as a legal secretary, first for an attorney in Deal, New Jersey, and later for Harvey Gladstein, a Wall Street (New York City) attorney. She retired in 1997. In 1998, they moved to Hampstead, North Carolina, where Mrs. Guarino was active in the art league and garden club. Following her husband’s death in 2005, she moved to Las Vegas to be near family, joining the West Side Newcomers’ Club, the Red Hat Society and the Valley of Fire chapter of the DAR. Through the West Side Newcomers’ Club, she formed close friendships with a group of Bridge players, who have been a constant in her life for the past 13 years. A devout Catholic, Mrs. Guarino was an active member of the St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, R.C. Church in Las Vegas. Mrs. Guarino is survived by two daughters, Laura Haight of Greer, South Carolina, and Michele Mueller of Las Vegas, and their husbands, Steve Haight and Lee Mueller. A private celebration of her life is being planned by the family. In lieu of flowers, donations to A Path 4 Paws www.adoptapet.com/apath4paws would be welcome.