05/20/2023
It is with deep sadness that we announce that we have lost our beloved Sarah. We will be celebrating her life in St. Petersburg, FL on June 24th. Details to follow.
Sarah Lindsay Bingham
February 27, 1951 – May 16, 2023
(Formerly of Monterey and Great Barrington, MA)
St. Petersburg, FL— After a brief acute illness, Sarah Bingham died gracefully at home with her family by her side.
Born to Robert and Jean Bingham (neé Rose), Sarah grew up in Shaker Heights, OH, attending the Laurel School for Girls (’69). The Binghams fostered a culture of service, fitness, adventure, and humor that Sarah carried through her life. The touchstone of her early life was a round-the-world trip. She started in Mexico to study at Ivan Illich’s Center for Intercultural Formation and then drove with her older brother Bob from Switzerland to Nepal. Sarah then spent six months in Japan before returning to Tufts University to complete a degree in Early Childhood Development.
From Boston, Sarah moved to the Berkshires to start a family and a career in special needs education. Her love of children, education, and health led her to a Master’s Degree in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Massachusetts. Sarah opened a nutrition practice in Lenox, MA, a calling she continued for over 40 years. Her nutrition work helped people tackle a full spectrum of ailments including depression, anxiety, obesity, autoimmune disorders, learning disabilities, child behavior issues, and chronic fatigue.
Never resting on the laurels of her past degrees or most recent achievements, Sarah peppered her life and career with certificates and accreditations from energy healing to nutrition. She co-authored Food Allergies: A Self Help Guide, and most recently authored a podcast called Snot Nosed Kids—she never shied from viscera, normalizing mucus and f***s as everyday indicators of health.
Her professional titles, Nutrition Consultant and Dietician, do not fully capture Sarah’s approach to healing nor the depth of her compassion for and commitment to people and their struggles. If you asked her for help, she became your fierce advocate and friend regardless of your station in life. She also set her sights on systemic issues: breaking down industrial agriculture, renewing ancient practices, and challenging the medical-industrial complex.
Steadying Sarah through her life was a seeker’s pursuit of quintessential truths. She converted to Judaism in her late thirties making Torah and Kabbalah study mainstays of her life as well as more ecumenical examinations of spiritual healing. She saw her nutrition and spiritual work as inextricably connected, saying, “Food represents love...the act of eating can be a bite-by-bite choice of body, mind, and spirit renewal.” For many of her clients, this
holistic approach was literally lifesaving.
Sarah leaves her husband Paul Singer; children William Conklin (Amelia Conklin) and Elizabeth Orenstein (Benjamin Naylor); brothers Robert Bingham (Carol Kearns) and Web Bingham; brother-in-law Edward Orenstein; stepson Dana Singer (Audra Singer); grandchildren Vera and Penelope Conklin, and Camden Singer; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. Sarah was predeceased by her sister Priscilla Fitzgerald, and former husbands Neil Orenstein and Harry Conklin.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Sarah’s memory may be made to the Berkshire Waldorf High School, Greenagers, or the Weston A. Price Foundation.
A graveside service will be held on Monday, May 22 at 3pm at Ahavath Sholom/Elmwood Cemetery with a reception to follow at Crissey Farm (both in Great Barrington, MA). All are welcome to both or either gathering.
We will be celebrating her life in St. Petersburg, FL on June 24th. Details to follow.
