(1925-2002)
American
Born: Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.
Sally Burchfield Ferris Hill was the third of Charles and Bertha Burchfield’s five children. Born Sarah Ruth Burchfield on July 5, 1925, three months after the family had moved to the Gardenville section of the Town of West Seneca, N.Y., she was soon known primarily by the nickname Sally.
Two years after graduating from Gardenville High School in 1943, she married Walter Ferris. They had seven children: Arthur, Andrew, Stephen, Charles, Laurel, Melissa, and Walter, Jr. The family moved to Delaware in 1960. After a divorce, Sally married George Hill (1925-1994) in 1983.
In November 1960, the Ford Times published an essay of Sally Ferris’s, “The Burchfields’ Favorite Town—Gardenville, New York,” as part of a family collaboration that also included a cover illustration of the painting Autumn Morning by her father and eight illustrations by her sister, Martha Burchfield Richter.
Sally Hill served as director and vice president of the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, established by her father before his death in 1967. Under her leadership the foundation generously supported the Burchfield-Penney Art Center and numerous other art institutions over the years with gifts of artworks and financial grants. She was also an important member of the Burchfield-Penney’s National Advisory Committee.
Sally Burchfield Ferris Hill died on February 7, 2002 after a brief illness. Services were held in Wilmington, Delaware where she had lived, and she was buried in the Lower Brandywine Cemetery in Greenville, Delaware. [1]
[1] Biographical information adapted from remarks by Nancy Weekly, Charles Cary Rumsey Curator and Head of Collections, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, presented at the Charles E. Burchfield Nature & Art Center at the memorial for Sally Burchfield Ferris Hill, May 2002. The memorial for Sally, as well as a memorial for Cindy Burchfield, daughter of C. Arthur and Violet P. Burchfield, granddaughter of Charles E. and Bertha K. Burchfield, included the dedication of a park bench, picnic area, and sculpture in the contemplation garden.