By the end of the decade, Farnham returned to modeling a few works inspired by her old mentor, Frederic Remington. Sunfisher, Sratchin' 'Im and Payday are western-themed works that are an obvious homage to the memory of Remington. The art world was drastically changing. Abstraction was emerging as a force to be reckoned with and Farnham, whose work was figurative, grounded in the late Beaux Arts, representative tradition, began to see demand for her work diminish. Despite this, she went on to create such works as Will Rogers, a beautiful character study of the noted humorist. It is everything Farnham sought out in her art. She once said, "I have always felt beauty as well as strength, and loved them. These are important things in sculpture. To mould feeling, strength and wisdom, to see through the outer form and bring to the surface the unconscious joys of life, this is my task."
Sally James Farnham would continue pursuing her craft until her death on April 28, 1943. She is buried in the All Saint's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Great Neck, New York. Her tombstone is inscribed, "A merry heart goes all the day." Farnham was an eternal optimist who entered a world dominated by men and succeeded on her own terms. Not one to create maternal images of children at play with turtles, as some of her female contemporaries had, she liked best "sculptures that are full of force, feeling and emotional expression." She said, "I want to believe the whole heart and soul of the artist is in his work. When he can make others believe that, he is a real artist." Farnham practiced what she preached and infused into her work a certain spark and energy which was respected by admirers and critics alike.