Sylvia (Seya) Bishop of North Stonington died on Friday, March 11, 2022, after a long struggle with cancer.
Seya and her twin sister, Isabel (Baya) Brown, were born in New Haven on April 21, 1938, the younger two of four daughters to George and Sylvia Harper. She is pre-deceased by her parents, her two older sisters Mary Marino and Alison Harper, her husband Newell Bishop, and her daughter Mary Sherman. Seya is survived by her twin sister, her son Ned Bishop, her nephew Gene Brown, her four nieces Jayne Marino, Roni Marino, Kathy Wyckoff, and Sue DeStaebler, her “brother” Billy Ahn, her cousin Alice Cross, and her sister-in-law Barbara Bishop.
Seya grew up in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and earned her bachelor of arts degree in 1960 from Mount Holyoke College. She began riding horses in Williamstown as a teenager and furthered that passion through several summers spent teaching riding at the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Seya bought her first horse, Dusty, while teaching YMCA riding and living in Charlestown, New Hampshire. She soon began teaching riding lessons on her own, and that business only grew over time. Seya and Newell first renovated the old barn at their vacation property in South Newbury, New Hampshire, and eventually built their own new barn in 1984 in the Clarks Falls section of North Stonington. Seya and Mary taught hundreds of riders young and old there together until Mary’s death in 2010.
Seya’s other great interest was playing the trumpet. She performed regularly in services at the North Stonington Congregational Church, where her husband served as the minister for 25 years. Seya spent countless hours throughout life supporting her husband’s work with the church, her daughter’s shared interest in horses, and her son’s career in coaching cross country and track & field. She loved the time spent at her family’s summer homes in South Newbury, New Hampshire, and Chatham, Massachusetts, and she truly treasured their farm in Clarks Falls.
Flowers and/or donations in Seya’s memory can be sent to the North Stonington Congregational Church, 89 Main Street, North Stonington.
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