Sally Delight Kilpatrick, 88, of Anacortes, Washington, died at home surrounded by family on December 21, 2025.

Sally was born on October 27, 1937, in Spokane, Washington, the daughter of H. Delight Maughan (née McAlpine) and Orlo Harrison Maughan. The Maughan family moved to Pullman in 1946 when Orlo was appointed Head of the Department of Agriculture Economics at Washington State College (now WSU). Tragically, a year later he died in a small plane crash in Idaho, leaving Delight with six young children to care for. That formative experience taught Sally resilience and the worth of higher education, as her mother already had a master's degree from Cornell, allowing her to support her family as a professor in Foods and Nutrition at WSC. From that point forward, the Maughan family always had a foreign national student renting a room during the school year, sparking in Sally a life-long interest in and appreciation of other cultures.

Sally graduated from Pullman High School in 1955, and from Washington State College with a bachelor's degree in education in 1959.

Sally married F. Michael Kilpatrick in Pullman on June 7,1959 and then joined him in Anacortes where they began their married life. She started her teaching career there, while Mike transitioned from teaching to school administration (as an elementary school principal). Sally and Mike were married fifty-three years when Mike preceded her in death in September 2012.

In 1968, Sally and Mike both joined the International Schools Services, and accepted teaching and administration positions in Yaoundé, Cameroon. They traveled there with their three young children, Sean, Erin, and Kelly, and many adventures ensued, several of them involving highly venomous snakes. No one was bitten.

They lived for two years in Cameroon, and three more years in Jakarta, Indonesia, returning to the United States in 1973. A constant during this time of many moves was the small cabin and ten acres they owned on Decatur Island in the San Juan islands, during a time when schoolteachers could afford such a luxury. The luxury was not the modest abode, but the ability to spend many weeks each summer with nothing to do but beach-comb for agates, fish for salmon, dig clams, play cribbage, read books, and — best of all — to just spend time together as a family.

Sally and Mike lived for many years in Othello, Washington, where Sally transitioned from elementary school teacher to becoming a librarian. She adored her job, and the students adored her. Upon retirement, Sally and Mike lived for a few years in Port Angeles, but they ultimately returned home to Anacortes in 2004 to be close to Mike's mother, Eileen Kilpatrick (who died in 2009), and to Sally's brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Karen Maughan — and to be closer to their grandchildren in Bellingham. Karen and Sally shared a volunteer position at the cancer center at Island Hospital for fifteen years from 2005 to 2020. They shared the position so that they could work every other week and have a built-in backup for when either of them traveled.

Sally will be remembered for her loving nature, her sense of humor, and her love of learning. She was a part of two women's discussion groups, AWIN (Anacortes Women Inquiring Now) and the "Gypsies," a group of close friends who were all born in different countries: the USA, Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Sally will also be remembered for her world-class pies and Scottish shortbread, given with love to so many.

Preceding Sally in death: her husband, F. Michael Kilpatrick; her brother Peter Maughan; her sister Judy Busch; and her sister Patty Wixon. She leaves behind her son Sean Kilpatrick; daughter Erin Kilpatrick Knox (Kevin Knox); son Kelly Kilpatrick (Salle Certo); and granddaughters Maeve Kilpatrick (Brent Boley) and Maura Kilpatrick (Kyle Atkinson). Sally's three brothers, Paul Maughan (Karen), David Maughan (Cathleen Gleeson), and Lowell Maughan (Linda) survive her, along with many nieces and nephews who all loved her just as fiercely as she loved them.

To share your memories of Sally, please sign her online guest register and bookmark this direct link to check for updates: www.evanschapel.com/obituary/sally-kilpatrick