Sally Cashel, 1931-2021

Sarah "Sally" Strife Cashel, 89, died peacefully at home on March 8, 2021. She was dearly loved by her husband of 62 years and her large family.

She was born on July 11, 1931 in New York, NY, the daughter of the late Dr. Cyril Frederick Strife and Edith Murphy Strife of Hartsdale, NY. She attended Sacred Heart Convent in Albany, NY, and graduated from Sacred Heart Convent in Greenwich, CT. She received her BA degree from Rosemont College, Philadelphia, PA. She also completed by extension the program for Theological Education for Ministry from the School of Theology of the University of the South.

While working as a casualty insurance broker in New York City, she met Thomas William Cashel, a young lawyer beginning his legal career there. They were married at Sacred Heart Church in Hartsdale, NY, in 1958. They raised four children, Thomas W. Cashel, Jr., Michael Sean Cashel, Kerry Cashel Saltonstall, and Colin Mark Cashel, and have 14 grandchildren, Thomas W. Cashel III, Emily Cashel Bennini, Liam Cashel, Alice Cashel, Conor Cashel, Meghan Cashel, Sean Cashel, Finnian Cashel, William Saltonstall, Lucy Saltonstall, Charles Cashel, Katherine Cashel, William Cashel, and Thomas Edward Cashel, and one great grandchild Sorrel Cashel. Sally is survived by her husband, children, and grandchildren, her brother, Dr. Cyril Frederick Strife, Jr. of Colorado, and her children's spouses: Elizabeth Burke Cashel, Laura Hall Cashel, William Saltonstall, and Kristin Broadhead Cashel. She was predeceased by her brother, Dr. Peter Henry Strife of New York, New York.

She and her husband maintained a summer house on Fishers Island, NY, for over four decades, where she enjoyed working in her large garden; and resided in Mountain Lake in Lake Wales for many years preceding her death.

She was an intelligent, generous person of strong character and faith, and there was something special about her that led people to admire her. She held to the view that one should treat all people with dignity and respect, and did so, in word and deed, over and over with kindness and grace, doing things because they were the right things to do. She was a hospice volunteer, eucharistic minister, guardian ad litem; she worked with the AIDS Action Committee in Boston, and participated in the Boston Living Center helping to provide services for AIDS patients.

She was active in her church at Fishers Island, and also served on the Board of Mountain Lake Community Service, and on the advisory boards of the Green and Gold Foundation and The Family Literacy Academy in Lake Wales. A dedicated wife, mother, volunteer, and community activist, she worked for the less privileged and the sick, and was invested as a Dame of Malta in the American Association of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

A funeral Mass will be said at 2 p.m. March 25 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Lake Wales and a memorial service will be held on Fishers Island this summer.

Memorial gifts may kindly be directed to Good Shepherd Hospice, 3470 Lakeland Hills Boulevard, Lakeland, Florida 33805 or to the Green & Gold Foundation, "B" Street Community Service Center, 230 B Street, Lake Wales, FL 33853.

Marion Nelson Funeral Home in Lake Wales is handling arrangements.