Sally R.H. Day

Sally Royster Hamilton Day of Hot Springs Village (“HSV”), Arkansas died, six days shy of her 88th birthday, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Born April 6, 1936, in Kansas City, Missouri to Dr. Hugh G. Hamilton and Martha Matilda “Til” Royster, Sally lived her early years there where she attended the Sunset Hill School, now Pembroke Hill School.

She graduated from Wellesley College in 1958. While at Wellesley Sally met her first husband (Donald) who was attending MIT. They moved to Short Hills, NJ where they raised three boys.

She was an active member of the Junior League of the Oranges and Short Hills and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Sally loved playing tennis as a long-term member of the Short Hills Club.

Sally moved to HSV in March 2017, site unseen, solely to pursue her incurable addiction to Duplicate Bridge. Andy Cosby of the Village Card Club hosted her arrival and made her transition delightful. Sally, a voracious reader, kept the Garland County Library delivery service as well as the Village Coronado Center Library concurrently busy, ordering books from both.

Sally shared how she had had a great and active life right up to her last weeks and reminisced about a recent March bridge game. She often observed “Arkansans are a part of America that still love God and their country.”

Sally was preceded in death by her parents and three husbands. Her first husband of 23 years (divorced), Donald A. Peterson, died on United Airlines Flight 93, on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked his plane.

Her second husband of 22 years, Snowden Treadwell Day, died of a heart attack at their residence in San Destin, Miramar Beach, FL.

Her third husband, Charles P. Day, Jr., of Short Hills, the older brother of Snowden, died of a heart attack at sea, celebrating his prior Naval Intelligence career, while enjoying a U.S. Navy “Tiger Cruise” between Hawaii and San Diego.

Survivors include her sons from Donald A. Peterson: David S. Peterson, D. Hamilton Peterson, Charles R. Peterson; and grandsons Campbell Hamilton Peterson and Peyton Croft Peterson; Her brother Hugh Girard Hamilton, Jr., her nephew, Hugh Girard Hamilton III, and niece, Jennifer Hamilton.

Nathan Scarritt, Sally’s maternal great-great-grandfather, was a founder of Kansas City, MO. His lands and the 11 houses he built for his sons encompassed much of what is now North Kansas City. Her maternal great-grandfather, Judge E.L. Scarritt, of Kansas City, built the family home, now registered as a National Historic Landmark, at 3500 Gladstone Boulevard.

The family would like to thank Village Card Club members Ann and Ron Palculict for their friendship and kindness in walking Sally in and out of the Village Card Club her last year.

Our deepest gratitude to Bob Villegas, one of Sally’s bridge-partners, for among other things, Bob’s selfless and herculean efforts in always helping Sally, especially in her final week at home.

During her last five days Sally was in the warm care of the staff at Montgomery County Nursing Home (“Mt. Ida”), under Director, Tommy Johnston. Thanks also to Jeff Blansett, and the staff of Thornton funeral home for all their help.

A celebration of life will be announced at a later date. Expressions of sympathy in remembrance of Sally may take the form of a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project, https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/contact-us. Or, to any other Veteran organization.

Regarding the celebration of life, Hamilton Peterson may be contacted at the HSV house number (501-226-3160). Arrangements were made under and directed by Thornton Funeral Home Mount Ida, Arkansas.