ALTAMONT — Rhona Ballard Twombly, a baker, gardener, and dedicated grandmother, died on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, after a brief illness. She was 102.

Mrs. Twombly was born in Georgia, Vermont, on farmland her Ballard antecedents bought from Ira Allen, brother of Revolutionary War patriot Ethan Allen, in the 1780s.

Her father, Julian Ballard, was a successful farmer, and her mother, Celia Wing Ballard, had been a telegraph station manager in Vermont. Mrs. Ballard, who lived in Altamont at the end of her life, was a descendant of the Wing family that helped settle, Sandwich, Massachusetts in the 1630s.

Mrs. Twombly attended a one-room school in Georgia, Vermont, through the eighth grade, and then boarded at the Montpelier Seminary in Montpelier, Vermont, for high school.

The school is now the Vermont College of Fine Arts and until her death, Mrs. Twombly was its oldest living alumna. She was honored in 2012 at the school’s graduation, when her granddaughter was awarded a master’s of fine arts degree.

Mrs. Twombly also attended the American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts.

She later moved to Burlington, Vermont, where she worked for the University of Vermont, and met her future husband, Ray Twombly, to whom she was married for 60 years. He died in 2001 while living in Altamont.

The Twomblys had lived in Altamont for 45 years, and Mrs. Twombly worked for the Guilderland Central High School for 18 years.

“Baking and gardening were among Rhona’s passions and she was known by many of her descendants as the ‘cookie grandmother,’” wrote her family in a tribute.

She loved tending her own gardens and, into her mid-90s, would often eat breakfast or lunch on a summer day in the garden alone, appreciating the perennials she had nurtured for decades and the brightly colored annuals that she always favored, her family wrote.

Mrs. Twombly was a volunteer at the Altamont Reformed Church and the Guilderland Interfaith Council Food Pantry, was active in the Altamont Garden Club, and helped maintain the gardens in Altamont’s Village Square for years.

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Mrs. Twombly is survived by her sons, Jay, of New Canaan, Connecticut, and Angus, of Alexandria, Virginia; her daughter-in-law, Linda McNiven Twombly, of New Canaan, Connecticut; her former daughter-in-law, Deborah Robb Twombly, of Exeter, New Hampshire; six grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

A reception for friends and family will be held at the Altamont Reformed Church on Saturday, Nov. 22, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. All who knew her are welcome.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Altamont Free Library, Post Office Box 662, Altamont, NY 12009, or to the Samaritan Fund, Altamont Reformed Church, Post Office Box 671, Altamont, NY 12009.