Sarah “Sally” Louise Frear died Wednesday, May 24, 2017, in UPMC Bedford Memorial Hospital of pneumonia and chronic conditions.

She was born Sept. 18, 1946, in Bedford, a daughter of Hugo K. and Virginia Rymer Frear. She is survived by brothers Edward K. “Ned” Frear, married to the former Mary Lee Newcombe, and Joseph K. Frear, all of Bedford; sister Mary Virginia Sweet and husband Robert, of Ellsworth, Maine; and by many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

She was attended for a number of years by loving caregivers Shay Horner, Vickie Givens and several others, and by Barry Knoll.

Sally Frear was most prominently identified with her work in restoring the Bedford Historic Memorial Park at the corner of John and Juliana streets in the borough and for the preservation work on the Civil War Soldiers Monument on the Bedford Squares. For her work, in 1999, the Bedford County Historical Society honored her as Historian of the Year, and in 2003, the Bedford Elks named her Citizen of the Year. She was a master gardener who shared her knowledge and labor on projects around Bedford and was an avid birdwatcher who cultivated an appreciation of wildlife in others.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May 30, at 11 a.m. at the St. James Episcopal Church in Bedford, with the Rev. Patrick Pierce officiating. Burial will be private. Friends will be received on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Timothy A. Berkebile Funeral Home in Bedford. Our online guest book is available at www.berkebilefuneralhome.com.

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