WOODSTOCK, N.Y. – Cheryl Ricard Wakely, 71, of Woodstock passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by family on Monday, December 6, 2021. Born in Killingly, Conn., on September 23, 1950, the daughter of Shirley Babbitt Ricard and Armand Ricard, Mrs Wakely is survived by her two beloved sons, Jonathan, and wife Jennifer of Washington, DC; Stephen, and fiancée Melissa of Barrington, R.I., and grandchildren Samuel and Cecilia Wakely of Washington, DC.

Mrs Wakely was a 1968 graduate of Killingly High School, where she was a school piano accompanist, and a 1972 graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Business. She changed careers in 1996 when she received a master’s degree from Simmons College in Library Management. She was a member of Beta Phi Mu, the International Library Honor Society.

In an early career, she was the purchasing agent for Loos and Company in Pomfret. She later became interim director of the Stafford Public Library and director of three local school libraries: The Hyde School, Marianapolis Prep School, and Killingly High School. She was the owner of Woodstock Hill Antiques for 40 years, helping many people furnish their homes with Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century antiques.

Mrs Wakely volunteered for many institutions and agencies, including: chair of the Woodstock Wetlands Commission, serving on that agency for ten years; historian and librarian of the First Congregational Church of Woodstock, during the time of the church’s 300th anniversary; president of the Woodstock Historical Society for eight years and on the Board of Directors for 15 years; a member of the Woodstock Tercentenary Committee, on which she served as publications chair; and a long-time member of the Concert Choir of Northeastern Connecticut.

She was the author of From the Roxbury Fells to the Eastward Vale: A Journey Through Woodstock, 1686-2011; co-editor with Charlene Perkins Cutler of Heritage and Horizons: Woodstock Remembers 300 Years; and editor of the 300th anniversary edition of the Woodstock Parish Observer. She wrote many articles about Woodstock history.

She loved leading Walking Weekend history tours, singing with choirs in the Quiet Corner, sailing on Alexander’s Lake, and playing golf at many local golf courses.

Donations may be made in memory of Mrs Wakely to a memorial fund for the Killingly High School Library Media Center or to the First Congregational Church of Woodstock.

Relatives and friends are invited to a funeral service at 2 pm on Saturday, December 18 in the First Congregational Church of Woodstock, 543 Route 169, Woodstock. For memorial guestbook, visit www.gilmanandvalade.com.