Obituary of Gillian Ryland Farrell

Mrs. Gillian "Jill" Ryland Farrell of Essex, CT peacefully passed away on February 11, 2016 with the comfort of her immediate family. A "Celebration of Life" service will be held on Saturday, February 20th, at 2:00 pm at St. John's Episcopal Church in Essex with a reception immediately following at Essex Meadows. Jill was born in Kingston upon Thames, London, England and went to Canada in a convoy of cargo ships with her mother, Phyllis, and their family during the height of the bombing in World War II. Henry, her father, stayed in London to fight in the Home Guard and after the war joined his family before eventually moving to Westport, CT. Jill graduated from Dana Hall preparatory school, Briarcliff College and attended the Tobe-Coburn School for Fashion Careers while living at the Barbizon Hotel for Women in NY. She co-founded the Compo Beach School for children in Westport and worked at B. Altman and Young & Rubicam in New York. Jill was a great lover of music, flowers, gardening, sailing, skiing and figure skating. She and Charles Robert "Bob" Farrell, her husband of 55 years, lived in Woodbury, CT before recently moving to Essex. Mrs. Farrell is survived by her husband, a son, Peter Farrell of New York, NY, a daughter, Julie LeProhon of Marietta, GA, a grandson, Billy, and two brothers, Michael Ryland of Essex, CT and Peter Ryland of Boynton Beach, FL. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made by mail payable to: "Middlesex Hospital Hospice and Palliative Care" Middlesex Hospital, Office of Philanthropy, 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT 06457. Or online: middlesexhospital.org/donate and choose "Hospice and Palliative Care." To share a memory of Jill or send a condolence to her family please visit www.rwwfh.com Arrangements by the Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home in Centerbrook.