Sally Dixon Wiener, summer resident of Aquinnah, died at her New York home on Nov. 13. She was 87.

She was born in Burlington, Iowa, on Sept. 18, 1926 to George and Ellen Dixon. Dr. Dixon’s health led the family to the southwest, where they lived several years in rural small towns. Sally met people from a wide range of backgrounds including mining, ranching and the trades, which informed her writing and rich sense of humanity. She attended Tucson High School and earned a degree in journalism from the University of Arizona.

Beginning with her version of the “junior year abroad” at Barnard College, she loved New York city and after writing for daily papers in Tucson and Salt Lake City, she moved east and worked for several papers in New York. She wrote short stories under the name Samuel Devon Warner. She later studied piano and playwriting at the New School and wrote many musicals and short plays which were produced at The Vineyard Playhouse and off-off Broadway venues in New York. Her writings are rich in dialog, memorable characters and dry wit. A member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, the Dramatists Guild, and the Writers Room, she wrote for the Dramatists Guild Quarterly and the Best Plays of the Year series.

Excellent linguist and fearless traveler, fantastic cook, deft artist, endlessly patient mother and loyal friend, Sally was a woman of humor and resilience. She was predeceased by her husband John A. Wiener. Sally will be missed every day by her children John Wiener, Ellen Wiener and Ann Stodder; her brother in law Geoffrey Wiener; her beloved companion Van Rogers; her grandchildren Sophia, Emma, Claire and Samuel; by many nephews and nieces, and by her friends in New York and on the Vineyard.

A service is planned for 3 p.m., Dec. 20 at the Church of the Ascension, 12 West 11th street in New York. A memorial service will be planned for next summer on the Vineyard.