Barbara (Bunny) Foote Fales died peacefully at age 94 in Hillsboro Shores, Fla., on March 20, the first day of spring.

She was immensely proud of her independence and possessed until the end her flair and zest for life and her careful nurturing of a beloved network of family and friends of all generations.

Bunny led a remarkable life of exploration and travel, but was especially dedicated to Windyhill, the Old County Road property in West Tisbury where she spent her summers all of her life. A photo taken at Quansoo captures her crawling up from the beach at the tender age of seven months!

Her parents were Gladys (Gay) Underwood Foote and Warren Cleaveland (Bill) Foote. Born in Fairhaven, she spent her childhood in New Bedford and Newton with her younger sister Gladys.

Among her Island forebears were Athearns, Cleavelands, Campbells and Nickersons. Great-great-grandfather Capt. Henry Cleaveland was a whaling captain until he retired and became the owner of the old mill in West Tisbury. His daughter married into the Campbell family who eventually gave the mill pond to West Tisbury.

When she fell in love with a dancing buckskin pony at the Ringling Brothers Circus, her father, a cavalry officer in World War I, persuaded the owners to part with her and taught Bunny to ride on the lunge without bridle or saddle. With this balance she was able to teach herself to stand up and do tricks at all gaits. She was, along with Libby Belden, Bob Woods and other up-Islanders, one of the most accomplished riders of her day. Beauty was a naughty pony, delighting in escaping and galloping up to Aquinnah on the sandy roads and open moors.

Her parents loved hunting, fishing and skiing, and built the first clay tennis court in West Tisbury which is still in use today. Bunny was an avid tennis player, a passion which she passed on to her children and grandchildren.

In 1934, during her studies at Wheelock College, she met and was swept off her feet by Samuel Fales, who had flown her in his biplane over the Empire State Building. They were wed in an outdoor ceremony at the edge of Priester’s Pond on June 20, 1936.

In their early years together, they lived in various locations including Manhattan, Nassau, Coconut Grove, Fla., and Uvalde, Tex., where during World War II Sam was flight instructor to cadets becoming pilots. Their daughter Sandra Fales Hillman was born in this period, and they had many exciting adventures together, along with her beloved mother, Gay.

After the war they fulfilled their dream of launching a life together in South America. Sam went down as an engineer, but soon returned to his passion — flying. Bunny taught and founded a school, and made homes, often under challenging conditions, wherever they went. She also served as copilot on many early flying missions. Venezuelan friends said the Fales knew their country better than they did.

Later, a second daughter, Barbara (Suki) de Braganca, arrived. These years were spent in Caracas and the interior of Venezuela, where a veritable ark of animals came to live in their household. Among them were an ocelot, a giant anteater, a crocodile and a coatimundi, not to mention a host of macaws and Amazonian parrots, all lovingly nurtured by Bunny.

The life they led in Venezuela for over 30 years is the subject of three volumes of memoirs which Bunny wrote with Sandra, entitled Venezuelan Ventures. Bunny was in the process of proofreading the third volume which will be published this summer.

Bunny had an inexhaustible love of people and selflessly devoted herself to them. Her later years comprised a rich combination of travel to many continents with her daughters, long hours of reading, and writing, both her book and a large correspondence.

Bunny was very grateful to have a wonderful son in law, Miguel de Braganca and a grandson in law, Gregory Green, and relished her five glorious grandchildren, Howard Butcher Hillman Jr., Elise Hillman Green, Miguel Samuel de Braganca, Annabel Barbara de Braganca and Camilla Fales de Braganca. To complete her joy, she had four great-grandchildren, Hartwell Howison Green, Ridgely Haliburton Green, Harrison Hillman Green and Chandler Athearn Green.

Sandra and Suki request that any gifts in her memory be made to Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, West Tisbury Congregational Church or the New England Conservatory’s El Sistema U.S.A./Abreu Fellows Program.