FARRAR, LUCY

Lucy Brady Farrar died on March 22, 2020, in Madison, Connecticut, where she had lived for the last four and a half years at The Hearth at Tuxis Pond.

Lucy Farrar was born on November 1, 1923, in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Dr. Leo Brady and Lucy Jewett Brady. The eldest of five sisters, she is survived by sisters Dr. Virginia Calkins of Buffalo, New York, and Emita Hill of New Rochelle, New York. Lucy married William Gregg Farrar in Baltimore in 1946 and is predeceased by him, and her daughter Ann Farrar. She is survived by her son William Farrar of South Pasadena, California and daughters Barbara Preneta (Ed) of Unionville, CT and Virginia Balser (Steve) of Norwalk, CT, eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews, as well as American Field Service “daughter” Lien Thai of New York City.

Lucy Farrar attended Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore for thirteen years, and, after two years at Vassar College, she attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated from there in 1945. She studied piano at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and later received a certificate in Early Childhood Education from the Eliot-Pearson School at Tufts University as well as a Masters Degree and Teaching Certificate in Early Childhood Education from Southern CT State University. She was one of the founders of the Community Nursery School in Guilford CT and the first teacher in the Guilford Headstart Program. She later worked for many years in the Guilford Public Schools, teaching both preschool and kindergarten, retiring from that system in the late 1980s. She was also deeply involved in setting up the Guilford Center for Children. She gave private piano lessons in Guilford for many years, including among her students some whose parents had also taken lessons from her. She and her family were members of the First Congregational Church in Guilford.

Bill and Lucy Farrar moved to Broad Street in Guilford in 1955, and Lucy lived there until 2012. She loved her family, music, dogs, hiking, traveling and all children. She maintained close ties with family and college friends, and she savored her time on Cushings Island in Maine in the summers. After the family lived for a year in rural England in the early 1960’s, she remained close with many British friends, and she and Bill took multiple groups of teenagers and, later, adults, to England and Wales for hiking and sightseeing adventures. They also travelled the world with friends and family, hiking in France, Italy, and Nepal, among other countries.

There will be a memorial service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Lucy Farrar’s memory may be sent to The Guilford Center for Children (47 Stone House Lane, Guilford, CT 06437 or online) or the Guilford Land Conservation Trust (P.O. Box 200, Guilford, CT 06437).