SALISBURY - Sarah "Sally" Lee McDowell Thomas died Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, after a long battle with breast cancer. Her parents were the late Allen Franklin Quillen and Mary Sharpley Quillen. After graduating from high school in Indian Head, in 1962, Sally spent several years as a wife and homemaker on Chincoteague Island, her home town. There she attended Christ United Methodist Church, where she sang in the choir and as a part of a trio, taught Bible study and volunteered at the thrift shop. In 1985, Sally graduated from Salisbury University and fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming an English teacher. Among other schools, she taught at Epworth Christian School in Laurel for 13 years and retired from Salisbury Christian School, where she taught full-time for six years and continued to substitute after her retirement. Sally sang with the Salisbury Community Singers and served at Emmanuel Wesleyan Church in Salisbury and Cross Pointe Church of the Nazarene, her final church home. She is survived by her three children, Laurie Ann McDowell of Chincoteague, Susan Lynn Boone of Delmar, Kevin Lawrence McDowell of Salisbury; two grandchildren; Brad Sharpley Quillen of Exmore; and several cousins and their families.