Sally Bills Peck, 80, of Del Norte, Colo., passed away on April 5, 2023.

For Sally, life was a contact sport and time was always best-spent outdoors. Her favorite childhood memories were of pick-up football and baseball games on empty lots near her house or tearing around Lake Mohawk in her outboard.

She met her husband, Harold, when she joined the Plainfield Ski Club. They both loved skiing so much that once they married, they moved to Stowe, Vt., her becoming a ski instructor and he a ski patroller. When they moved back to New Jersey, she realized her childhood dream of owning a horse, won innumerable tennis tournaments and continued her ski instructing career at Vernon Valley.

In the early 1980s, Sally pivoted from dominating the courts and slopes to fully immersing herself in farming and raising beef cattle. She will be remembered for her service to the Top O’ Jersey Beef 4-H Club where she worked with the youth (including her grand-nieces, nephew and grandchildren) of Sussex County, N.J., to raise project animals for over 20 years.

In their 70s, Sally and Harold pulled up stakes in New Jersey to pursue yet another dream: running their own ranch in Colorado. Throughout her life, Sally was never without a trusty canine companion (or, three), and she happily spent the final decade of her life riding her horses and running with her dogs on her ranch in Del Norte.

The daughter of the late Sarah “Sally” Ames Bills and Charles T. Bills, Sally was preceded in death in 2018 by her beloved husband, Harold Wescott Peck.

She is survived by her daughter, Jessie Peck Martin and son-in-law, David, of Branchville; two grandsons, Bryn Charles Martin and Aaron Peck Martin; and two granddaughters, Natalie Sarah Martin and Mary Elizabeth Martin.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Father John’s Animal House at 50 Father John’s Lane, Lafayette, NJ 07848. Online donations can be made at the following link: https://bit.ly/403G2q5.

Arrangements are under the direction of Smith-McCracken Funeral Home, online condolences may be made at www.smithmccrackenfuneralhome.com.