Sarah (Sally) Scott Cook died on Oct. 1 at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, surrounded by family and friends. She was 86.

A portrait of her that was painted in 1961 by her future grandfather in law John Folinsbee captured what characterized her energetic and engaged life for the next six decades.

She was born in Boston in 1936, the third of Henry and Peggy Scott’s four children. Her family lived in Amherst, Corpus Christi, Tex. and then Missouri, where her father taught art history at the University of Kansas City. She attended Smith College along with her sister Anne, graduating in 1958 before pursuing a master of education at Harvard.

In 1960, she was hired to teach at a primary school in Pennington, N.J. She lived on the farm of Peter and Joan Cook — longtime friends of the Scotts — in nearby Kingston and that’s where her courtship with their son Peter Cook began. She and Peter were engaged in the spring of 1961 and married on Martha’s Vineyard that September.

The couple spent the next ten years or so teaching and raising four children in Rhode Island, New Jersey and France before settling in the Boston area. Sally taught at many levels, from playschool in Lexington to graduate students from all over the world at the Boston University School of Social Work.

Being a member of a family involved in art, music and theater on both sides, she loved all kinds of music, dance and other art forms. She sang in choirs and, in the 1950s, with the Island group The Uplanders. She and her sister Anne built a puppet theater and performed often for children on- and off-Island. She encouraged her children and others to develop their artistic instincts, cheerleading their pursuits and accomplishments.

She wrote exuberant letters and an occasional Vineyard reminiscence for the Vineyard Gazette. She was an inspired culinary expert, in catering and in her own kitchen. Her lasagna, spanakopita and apple crisp are legendary.

Her connection to the Vineyard goes back more than 75 years. Toward the end of World War II her father, a U.S. Navy officer, was assigned to the naval air station that is now the MVY airport. At that time the Scott family lived through the winter in Vineyard Haven.

In the spring of 1945, the Scotts bought the century-old farmhouse on South Road in Chilmark. This house became the family hub in summers until 1971, when Sally’s father retired from teaching and Peggy and Henry became year round residents.

Sally and Peter moved to Chilmark as permanent residents in 2015, first in the family home and then building their own house just up the hill. Sally immediately became involved in community work as a member of Chilmark’s cemetery commission and a friend of the Up-Island Council on Aging.

She deeply loved the Island and its people. She marveled at the changes at Lucy Vincent. She adored the Sunday morning swim ritual with family at Menemsha, walks at Polly Hill and tea times or dinners with friends and family at home. She was one of those who would stop by, give you a call, or bring you some comfort food in a time of need.

She is survived by her husband Peter and their children and grandchildren: daughters Annie (who was born on the Island), Elizabeth and Caitlin, her son Peter, Liz’s daughter Alexandra, Caitlin’s daughter Maeve, Liz’s husband John Lenthall and Caitlin’s husband Calder Martin; her sister Anne Scott McGhee and Anne’s daughter Elizabeth McGhee; her brother Jonathan, his wife Marie Fischer and the five Scott children, Jonathan, Malia, Joshua, Andrea, and Nathaniel, their spouses and their combined ten children.

She was predeceased by her brother Henry E. (Hank) Scott 3rd and her adopted brother George Alley.

Sally also leaves behind extended family members and friends from the Boston area to Maine, New York, Seattle and around the world, including France, England, Switzerland, Italy, and New Zealand.

A memorial is planned for Nov. 12 in Chilmark.