Sally Knights

PEABODY, MASS. — Sally Hyde Knights, 89, passed away in Burlington, Mass., on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015.

She was predeceased by her husband, David Knights, and her two sisters, Nancy (Hyde) Hoggard of Wenham, Mass., and Jane (Hyde) Fenn of Waterville, and Bath. All three sisters were raised at the Hyde family estate, named Elmhurst, in Bath.

In 1947, the three sisters and their mother Eleanor Boyd Hyde, gifted their estate, Elmhurst, to the Pine Tree Society (PTS) which cared for polio victims. By the middle 1960s, polio had been mostly eradicated in North America, so the PTS no longer needed this large estate and looked for a new owner. Again, thanks in very large part to the foresight and generosity of sisters Jane, Nancy and Sally Hyde, Joe Gauld was able to purchase Elmhurst to establish a special new private school, which he named The Hyde School; it has been a leader in education and has been successfully teaching young folks ever since.

Sally was born in Boston and raised in Bath; she is the daughter of Eleanor Boyd (“Ted”) Hyde and John Holmes Hyde. She is the great-granddaughter of Thomas Worcester Hyde.

Sally and David were married in 1946 at the family estate, Elmhurst, in Bath; they had met while she was attending college in Boston, a date set up by David’s close friend Gordy Holmes. Sally and David raised their family in Marblehead, Mass., where they lived for over 60 years. David worked in Boston at Massachusetts Machine, a company he had formed. Some of Sally’s favorite pastimes were tennis, sailing at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, and painting; she could be found with brush in hand, and paint all over herself, nearly up to the time she passed away. Sally and David enjoyed spending their summers on Kezar Lake in Lovell, or in Marblehead enjoying the Eastern Yacht Club. Sally was happiest on the tennis court, on the sailboat, or at her easel. She took great pleasure in painting and it was her passion throughout her life. She very much enjoyed being around people and was a hostess at heart; her wonderful smile (and David’s as well) can never be forgotten by all those who knew her! She and David are now both together in Lovell.

Sally leaves behind daughters Heidi Knights Adams of Sarasota, Fla., Gretchen Knights Geddis of Lovell and Nina Knights of Centerville, Mass.; son, Jeffrey Hyde Knights of Marblehead, Mass.; six grandchildren and four great-grandsons.