Due to recent COVID-19 guidelines and in an effort to keep all members of our community safe and healthy, the memorial service for Sallie Craighead Leighton, which was scheduled for May 16, 2020, at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, in Camden has been postponed. It is our hope that a service will be announced at a later date.

To reach out to Sallie’s family and show your support, please consider visiting their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com to share a memory or condolence.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.

CAMDEN — Sallie Craighead Leighton, 87, died peacefully with two of her three daughters by her side on January 18, 2020.

She was born July 18, 1932 in Stamford, Connecticut, to Whyte Owen Craighead and Theodora (Thieme) Craighead. She graduated from Stamford High School as Class President in 1950 and from Colby Junior College in 1952 with an associate degree in performing arts with a voice major.

For nearly 70 years she sang in various churches, mainly Episcopal choirs in Connecticut, New York, Maine and occasionally in the United Kingdom. Her beautiful voice was just one of her many talents. She was briefly a
stewardess for Pan Am until she married Herbert Reynolds in 1954. She later worked doing cancer research at the New England Institute for Medical Research in Ridgefield, CT. She later moved to Maine in 1973, and
worked at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor until she married Allan Leighton in 1978.

Sallie was an avid reader and had numerous interests and hobbies including painting, calligraphy, cooking, spinning and dying wool, and rug hooking to name just a few. She was a Certified Master Gardener and absolutely loved nature, observing and studying everything from plants, animals, rocks, shells – basically anything she could get her hands on. She loved traveling to many places to see the varying landscapes, flora and fauna. She volunteered at the Maine Logging and History Museum and later, after moving to Camden, as a docent for the Maine Lighthouse Museum meticulously cleaning the multitude of Fresnel lenses as well as giving tours at the Museum, the Rockland Breakwater and Owls Head Lighthouses.

In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by her husband, Allan Leighton, and brother, Whyte Owen Craighead.

She is survived by her daughters, Kim Reynolds of Ocala, FL, Susan Taylor and her husband Ken of Vassalboro, Wendy Frost and her husband Jack of Northeast Harbor; grandsons, Allan Taylor and Justin Taylor; great-grandson, Theodore Taylor; a brother, George Howard of Darien, CT; and many beloved cousins, nieces and nephews.

A Memorial Service will be at held Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m., at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Chestnut Street, Camden.

To share a memory or condolence with Sallie’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.