Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Sterling never lost her love for art, daughter Susan Palmore said yesterday.

Palmore said that in the last couple of weeks of her mother's life, the two would talk about what pieces of art her mother wanted displayed or to take off the wall.

One of Sterling's favorite pieces was an Alexander Calder stabiel made out of metal that looked like a bird getting ready to fly, her daughter said. In her final days, Sterling told Palmore, "You know, I'm still not ready to depart with (the stabiel)."

Sterling, a collector of antique and contemporary art and strong supporter of Hawai'i artists, died Tuesday at her home in Punahou from liver cancer. She was 90 years old.

Sterling had been an active member of the O'ahu art community. She was a Hawaii Opera Theatre board member, a Honolulu Academy of Arts trustee, a Chinatown Think Tank member, and a member of The Contemporary Museum Collections Committee.

"She loved local artists," said Galen Leong, a friend of Sterling's.

Sterling had an eye for beauty and liked "line, form and color," Palmore said. When she would go shopping with her mother for new art, Betty Sterling would say, "When I see something, I can tell in my gut that it's right."

"My mother enjoyed her art," Palmore said, adding that if Sterling thought something was beautiful and she had the money, she'd buy it.

Sterling made her home in Hawai'i in 1969 after visiting Palmore. However, much of that period she also lived part time in New York, Vermont and Connecticut.

In 1962, Sterling — whose maiden name was Cunningham — married Edward Sterling and a couple of years later they opened Brainstorm Farm Antiques in Vermont, a dealership specializing in early American furniture and antiques. Her husband was seriously injured in 1966 in an auto accident that left him partially paralyzed. For the next 30 years, Betty Sterling managed and supervised his care, which included around-the-clock nursing.

After closing the antique business in 1982, Sterling shifted her interest to modern art, and once a year she'd hold a party to celebrate local artists.

She celebrated her 90th birthday in April. As a birthday present, 30 of her artist friends presented her with a book containing samples of their artistry.

Sterling was born in Pittsburgh in 1916. She graduated in 1937 from Smith College and worked for the Red Cross in Bridgeport during World War II. She also was a social worker and Democratic Party activist in the 1940s, '50s and '60s in Connecticut.

The family said Sterling's body will be cremated, and her ashes will be buried in Vermont.

She is survived by two daughters, Susan Palmore of North Carolina and Linda Barnes of Washington, D.C.; four grandchildren, Katherine Barnes, Davis Barnes, Michael Barnes and Jennifer Hoffman; and seven great-grandchildren.

Reach Brittany Yap at byap@honoluluadvertiser.com.