Sarah Turpin Senecal

Sarah Turpin Habberton Senecal died peacefully at home with her family on October 24, 2009 at age 95. Born to Centreville, MD native, William Potter Turpin and May Bibb Turpin of Birmingham, Alabama in Birmingham October 8, 1914, Sarah spent summers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore visiting her family on their farms, and enjoyed horseback riding and sailing. A graduate of both, Sweet Briar College in Lynchburg, VA and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Sarah worked for the OSS in Washington, DC during World War II. She resided with her parents at Wye Farm, her family home near Centreville, MD, where she helped with volunteer war efforts on the Eastern Shore, enjoyed growing strawberries and tomatoes for sale in town, and, for a brief stint, taught history at Gunston School. In Dallas, she met Benjamin Habberton, an attorney, and they married in 1946 at St. Paul’s Church in Centreville, MD. They spent their first year together on government assignment in post-war Germany, in Berlin, returned to live in Dallas, then moved to Washington, DC and raised 2 daughters, Alice Habberton Rogalski and Anne Emory Habberton. In Washington in the 1950’s-1970’s, Sarah was active in St. Thomas Episcopal Church and the Girl Scouts, gave sewing and French lessons to her daughters and their friends, was an excellent cook and a member of the Garden Club. She worked at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC for ten years. When Mr. Habberton died in 1980 after a long illness, Sarah returned to the Eastern Shore to Wye Farm, where she enjoyed entertaining and continued to be an enthusiastic gardener and avid baseball fan. (Cal Ripken phoned her on her 90th birthday!) During the 1980’s, she volunteered at Easton Memorial Hospital and the regional Baltimore Symphony association, was a member of the Queen Anne County Garden Club and took classes at the Academy Art Museum and Chesapeake College. In 1988, Sarah married Al Senecal, and they enjoyed a gleeful 14 years together living at the farm and traveling. Sarah was widowed again in 2002. Sarah loved farming and lived to see Wye Farm preserved as farmland in 2008. She is survived by her daughter, Alice and son-in-law Bill Rogalski of Alexandria VA, daughter Anne Habberton and husband, Jon Shaw of Wye Farm, Centreville MD, granddaughter, Kathryn Sarah Rogalski of Washington DC, and grandson, Benjamin Rogalski and his wife, Mary of New Haven CT. Funeral services will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Centreville, MD on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. Burial will be at the family cemetery at Locust Hill Farm on Turpins Lane in Centreville. Memorial contributions may be made to: Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, P.O. Box 169, Queenstown ,MD 21658; Queen Anne’s Conservation Association, P.O. Box 157, Centreville, MD 21617; Academy Art Museum, 106 South Street, Easton ,MD 21601; Hospice of Queen Anne's, Inc. , 255 Comet Drive, Centreville MD 21617; or your local humane society.

Sarah Turpin Senecal

October 8, 1914 - October 24, 2009