South Strafford, Vt. —
Sasha was born in Detroit, Mich., on Nov. 24, 1940, the third of four daughters to Stanley and Hazel Coon. She earned a baccalaureate degree in nursing and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 1968, she married Richard W. Dow.
After 20 years of nursing, Sasha began a second career as a medical librarian at the University of Michigan’s Taubman Health Sciences Library. By the time of her retirement in 1994, she had advanced to Head Librarian at the University’s School of Public Health.
In 1994, Sasha and her husband moved to Sharon, Vt., where Sasha began her third career and found the real love-of-her-life, horses. She managed a full complement of boarders and horses in her barn and bred her Lusitano stallions to her brood mares and the mares of other clients. Her preferred discipline was dressage. In 2011, the couple moved to a smaller facility in South Strafford where she continued to ride, train, compete and offer breeding activities. It was her one disappointment in life that she was unable to score well enough in competition to win her Bronze Medal. She was awarded the “Volunteer of the Year Award” by the Central Vermont Dressage Association in 2011.
Sasha was predeceased by her parents, her younger sister and her stepson. She is survived by her husband; three daughters, a stepdaughter; two sons-in-law; two sisters; and five grandchildren.
A remembrance will be held on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 2 p.m. in Sasha’s recently constructed Round Barn (with sand floor) at 36 Redden Road, South Strafford. Guests are invited to share stories about Sasha. Beverages and light fare will be served.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Green Mountain Horse Association in Woodstock, Vermont, or to the Visiting Nurse and Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire.