Dear Susan, We miss you – your voice, your hugs, your smile and laughter -- but most of all we miss spending time with you -- talking with you about so many different subjects, playing word games like Wise or Otherwise, walking, beading, cooking, etc.

 

You always kept in touch with us with your visits, phone calls, emails and holiday letters. These multi-media presentations of favorite photos, lyrics from songs and poetry (complete with links) were so much fun to read and offered us a glimpse into your creative inner workings. There is no way that we could ever imitate your unique writing style, but we wanted to write you a letter as we gather to mourn your passing.

 

You wrote that your last letter was your attempt at hope after the election of “HWMNBN.” In memory of you, we will try our best to carry on your spirit of hopefulness and acceptance in our daily lives, as you did, when caring for Jim in his final months and caring for yourself after knee surgery. You loved the morning, often taking walks with camera in hand, to capture flora and fauna opening or awakening to a new day. We doubt we will ever take as many pictures as you did, but we will especially remember you in the mornings as we walk or look up at the stars or listen to the birds as you did. We will carry on your hope of preserving the beauty of the natural world.

 

We will also try to maintain our hopefulness and take action as you did to help create a world that embraces compassion, justice, and peace regardless of a person’s gender, religion, country of origin, race or socio-economic level. We remember you as a grounded idealist who supported issues such as women’s rights, through your words and deeds. After the election, you sent a mass email quoting suffragette Susan B. Anthony. In your last letter to us, you wished for Lin Manual Miranda to write a musical similar to Hamilton about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. We are sending your wish – sorry if we sound ‘new age’ here –to the universe for you.

 

In your last letter, you quoted these lines from Leonard Cohen’s song 'Anthem': 

…Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

​

You embraced those lines and were always looking for ways to let “the light to come in” on an imperfect world. You filled your days doing the hobbies that brought you joy. We used to feel like you had discovered the time-splitting spell that Hermione used because you lived so fully. You wrote, “Some of that light was getting in for me this year – with lots of travel, bird photography and genealogy. I managed to pack in little visits with many of you around this travel up and down the eastern seaboard – and I don’t forget that that was the real highlight!!”

 

Your connection to family and friends always trumped your passion for a multitude of hobbies. When Daniel called, we always knew by your expression of delight that it was him. Susan, like you, we will always be there for your family. You were fully present for each of us, listening to our problems, researching/suggesting thoughtful solutions, and even rolling up your shirt-sleeves and helping to put an action plan in place. Your unspoken message (and spoken at times) was “we’re in this together and we might as well make the best of it.” You could laugh at yourself and share laughter with others, in spite of adversity. You faced the realities of your life but never let them take away your joy in doing the things that truly mattered to you. Susan, you were an inspiration to all of us who mourn your passing.

 

To quote the closing of your holiday letter: “Much Love Be with You Until We Meet Again.”

 

Back at you, Susan. “Much Love Be with You Until We Meet Again.”

                                                  - Lynnie, Patti, Rita, Vicki, Kathy,

                                                       Nada and Annie (the college crew)