Sally McIntyre Lewis

Sally McIntyre Lewis passed away peacefully at home on March 18, 2023.

She was born in Huntington, Long Island, New York, on June 11, 1928, the youngest child of Otto Everett McIntyre and Virginia Pomeroy McIntyre. She graduated from Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1945 and from Bryn Mawr College in 1949. She married J. Morgan Lewis in 1949.

The Lewises and their four children moved to Santa Barbara in 1968. Morgan Lewis passed away in 1970. Sally was remarried to Edmond Jerome McKearnan in 1976. He died in 2015.

Sally was an artist who started drawing as a young child and continued through the last weeks of her life. She took classes at Silvermine School in New Canaan, Connecticut, the Art Institute of Chicago, and later at UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College. She also participated in private local drawing groups. Throughout her life, Sally drew and painted landscapes and abstracts and was particularly skilled at figure drawing and portraits. She also expressed herself visually by creating a nurturing, colorful home and garden.

Sally loved animals. As a teenager, she took her horse with her to boarding school. Later, she doted on family pets, rescued strays, kept bird feeders and birdbaths full, and contributed widely to wildlife charities.

She was a member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Santa Barbara, and volunteered for many years in its Reading Room on State Street.

She is survived by four children (Maggie Lewis Thomas, Sara Lewis Murre, Susannah Lewis-O’Dea, and O. Evan Lewis), two stepdaughters (Layne McKearnan BenBen and Ann Cahill), nine grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren.

The family will gather privately to celebrate her later this spring. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to First Church of Christ, Scientist, Santa Barbara or the World Wildlife Fund.