In Passing – Wendy Costello (December 3, 2020)

Following a courageous 18-month battle with cancer, long-time AHS member Wendy Winett Costello passed away at home in Maryland on December 3, 2020.

In 1968, Wendy graduated from college and started a career in teaching. She also met her soon-to-be husband, Marty Costello, who was a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. The couple was married a year later in the Naval Academy Chapel and spent many years traveling with the Navy.

Wendy's love of horses led to a career change in 1995 when she purchased her first broodmare. She built a successful breeding operation as Riverland Farm in Wisconsin, adding several more broodmares to the herd, and adding the Hanoverian Elite Stallion Donavan as her foundation stallion. She later added the Oldenberg stallion Rosall to her breeding program. When Marty retired from the Navy, the couple relocated to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 2007 and Wendy moved the breeding operation to her farm in Stevensville as Kent Island Sporthorses. She was a highly regarded producer of quality sporthorses for dressage and jumping throughout the United States. In addition to her passion for children and horses, Wendy was an enthusiastic supporter of the Naval Academy. She was an avid tailgater at Navy football games, and was a "Sponsor Mom" to numerous midshipmen, who, even after graduating and joining the fleet, are still considered members of the family.