Sarah (Sally) Griswold Leahy of Westwood and formerly of Chestnut Hill died at home of natural causes on Jan. 12. She was 89.

She was an educator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and a devoted mother and grandmother.

Sally was born in New Haven, Conn. to Mary Brooks and Alfred Whitney Griswold. Her father, a Yale University professor, was promoted in 1950 to become the university’s president. He served in that capacity until his death in 1963.

During this time, she met a Yale student who would be her future husband, Richard (Dick) Gordon Leahy. She attended Smith College during their courtship. Within a few months of meeting, the two were engaged. They married in 1953 and were deeply devoted to each other for the 67 years of their marriage. When Dick began graduate studies at Harvard University, she accompanied him to Cambridge and completed her senior year at Wellesley College. She graduated in 1954 from Smith College with a degree in art history.

Sally’s family were lifelong summer residents of Martha’s Vineyard. After she and Dick wed and Dick was beginning his career at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), the Island seemed like an obvious destination for them to settle. In 1958 they built a house where they lived for several years before moving to Chestnut Hill with their children, Sarah, Betsy and Peter.

In 1967 she began her 29-year career as a museum educator at the Museum of Fine Arts. She first volunteered as a gallery instructor. In 1978 she joined the staff as the coordinator of the gallery instructor program in the department of education where she was responsible for organizing, training and supervising a group of approximately 70 volunteers. During her time at the MFA, Sally was involved in a number of innovative programs for children and was instrumental in starting the museum’s partnership with the Boston Public Schools. This program sent museum-trained volunteers into fifth-grade classrooms to help prepare the students for their annual Museum visit.

Upon her retirement from the coordinator position, Sally became an adjunct lecturer at the museum. Her areas of expertise were the museum’s Egyptian, Classical, American, Asiatic, Print and French 19th-century painting collections. In recognition of her leadership and devotion to museum education, she was honored in 1996 with the establishment of the Sarah G. Leahy Scholarship Fund. This endowment provided annual tuition for six young people to attend Saturday art classes at the museum.

She was outgoing, with a generous spirit and sense of humor. She enjoyed playing tennis, ocean swimming, skiing with her family and was an avid reader and watercolorist.

Dick was her primary focus throughout their life together. They were inseparable for almost seven decades. Their passion for the arts and education were also instilled in their three children and seven grandchildren. Sally was proud of each of them, supporting their educations and closely following their lives, accomplishments and careers. One of Sally’s most cherished pastimes was reading aloud to her grandchildren from old favorites such as Babar and Madeline, and sharing the rhymes of A.A. Milne, Edward Lear and Ogden Nash. Sally also loved their many trips to the MFA, where she ensured that each grandchild had a chance to visit a special painting or sculpture.

Sally was predeceased by her beloved husband Richard (Dick) Gordon Leahy. She is survived by her children and their spouses: Sarah Leahy Cerami and Joseph Cerami, Betsy Leahy Morton and Rory Morton, and Peter Leahy and Izabela Czepiel Leahy; her grandchildren David Cerami, his wife Hollie Barden and their children Indigo, Romeo and Mia Cerami; Anna, Eric and Jacob Morton; Samantha and Caroline Leahy and their mother Linda Lee Leahy; her brother Whitney Griswold and sister in law Laura Wainwright; and her sister Suzanna Griswold Kaleck and brother in law Edward Kaleck.

A celebration of life will be planned for a later date.

Memorial donations can be made to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 or www.mfa.org.