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MONTROSE, N.Y. --Sarah A. Traina, 78, passed away July 4, 2016 at The Canterbury in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif..
Traina resided in Montrose between 1966 and 2009 and spent the final seven years of her life in Southern California near her sister Caroline and her son Tad and his family.
She was born Sept. 7, 1937 in Appleton, Wis. to Russell and Norma Brenzel (both deceased). A 1955 graduate of Kaukauna High School, she excelled at art and went on to study for four years at Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. After graduating from Layton in 1959, she studied for two additional years at Brooklyn Museum Art School in Brooklyn, where she met her husband Aldo.
In those years her artwork was exhibited at various museums and venues in Wisconsin. After marriage and the births of her two sons, she settled into life in Montrose as a housewife and part-time artist. For many years, she submitted artwork to and had pieces included in The Northern Westchester Art Show at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Croton-on- Hudson. In addition, she had occasional work assignments, drawing lamps for a catalogue, teaching art to children in an after-school program, designing whimsical business cards and working on Election Day as a poll worker.
Traina and her husband were members of the Cortlandt Yacht Club, where he liked to sail and she enjoyed swimming.
Besides art, her interests included gardening, tennis, antiques, cats and dogs, and friends. She loved hearing the din of frogs near her home on College Hill Road in the springtime and enjoyed seeing deer, wild turkeys and woodpeckers in her yard. She accumulated collections of antique duck decoys, flower frogs, tin cans, and travel trunks, which were displayed in her house.
She was predeceased by Aldo in 1988 and is survived by her two sons, Tad and Perry and their wives, Mi-Kyung and Leslie. In addition, she is survived by three grandchildren, Bernadette, Clare and Owen; seven siblings, George, Jim (Mical), Dan (Kathy), Bridget (Kris), Abbie (Del), Caroline (Rod) and Nanette; brother-in-law, Carl; and 16 nephews and nieces.
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