Sabina Hartley Duke

Sabina Hartley Duke, 28 (x3)(because she loved that year) a twenty-nine year resident of Boulder City, NV, passed away February 27, 2025. She was born on February 2, 1941 in Jamestown, New York to Kenneth James Hartley and Mary Sands Hartley.

Sabina was raised in Jamestown, NY, graduated from the Washington National Cathedral School in Washington, DC and Skidmore College,Saratoga Springs, NY.

  She married Allen Duke October 6, 1962 in Schenectady, New York. They raised their children in Oakfield, NY, and Sidney, NY. Sabina made the children’s bedtime ritual: bath, story time, and “What did you like best today?” 

In Sidney, she owned and managed The Bookworm, an independent bookstore, was on the Sidney library board, and president of the Sidney Chamber of Commerce, the first woman. She became a fiber artist spinning and knitting wool, and with her friends sold her crafts at fairs. Heavy winter sweaters still are in their home.

  A friend had recommended Boulder City for its community feel, and Sabina and Allen retired there in 1995. Sabina was always engaged in her community and continued to volunteer. She became a Boulder City Chamber of Commerce volunteer and active at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church on its vestry and as Senior Warden. She and five others became licensed to preach and enjoyed their rotation at the pulpit.

 As a teenager she traveled by boat to South America and through Europe and Asia to see her sister Sue in the Philippines. Sabina has ridden camels and elephants. She has travelled from the Arctic (twice) to the Antarctic (but she wanted to go again), to all fifty states by car, and firmly believed that the best highways across America were all roads except Interstates. If you travelled with Sabina, you would be hunting for restored Muffler Men (fiberglass statues), monasteries, unusual local diners, and once albino squirrels.

 Sabina would talk to everybody and listen, really listen, to your story. She would tell you her name and correct your pronunciation because that was the way her mother pronounced it. She would remember your name and call you by name.

 She is survived by her husband Allen Duke, her children Sara (Matthew), Andrew (Madeleine) and Laura, and her grandchildren John, Sylvia, Chris, and Alex. They have already begun the storytelling rounds. She was preceded in death by her parents and all of her aunts and uncles (more stories there) and her sister Sue Mary.

 Funeral services will be held 11:00am, Saturday, March 15th, at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, 812 Arizona Street, Boulder City, NV. The family will have a private interment at a later time. We invite family and friends to leave condolences or memories at www.starmortuary.com.