I met Suzanne for the
first time about thirty years ago at a women’s retreat in Santa Barbara.
She arrived wearing leopard print tights under a pink tutu. Jewelry dangled
from each wrist, her neck and every finger. When she entered a room, you
couldn’t help but notice her. She wore her flaming red hair wildly teased, and had
a loud and raucous laugh. I thought she
looked like a Tenth Ave. hooker.
Over the years, I saw her at different functions. She
sometimes showed up at senior dances dressed in her outlandish style. As I
slowly got to know her, I saw the kind heart and honest zest for life that she
possessed. She made everything fun. She once joined an exercise class and
decided to buy a bike to keep fit. She bought a magenta pink bike and matching
magenta pink helmet. She rode to class wearing a bright orange shirt over polka
dot tights.
She started an “Overeaters Anonymous” group at St. John’s
Lutheran church and insisted they have their meetings every Monday since most
people start a diet on Monday. Suzanne had a deep Christian faith and believed
that God wanted all His children to have fun, so she went about making that
happen. She belonged to a prayer and bible study group and made religion fun.
When her church decided they needed to expand, she went outside and shoveled up
a bucket of dirt and plopped it on the pastor’s desk.
“This is where we begin…with this dirt. Let’s pray over it.”
she said.
Suzanne volunteered in many local charities. She often
dressed up like Raggedy Ann and visited care facilities where she made the
elderly and lonely laugh at her antics. She volunteered to paint scenery at a
local live theater and wrote “secret messages” somewhere in the scenery. She
told the cast to look for them. They all
took part in finding the “secret messages,” usually sayings like “God loves
you,” or “you matter.”
On Halloween, her favorite holiday, she decorated every room in
her house, even the bathroom. Witches, pumpkins and skeletons hung from the
ceilings and adorned the furniture. Every year she held a “witch’s brew”
luncheon for many of her women friends. I
felt privileged to get invited. She made the basic stock and everyone brought a
cup full of cooked vegetables to add to the pot. She provided crusty bread with
the soup and dessert and coffee afterward. The soup always tasted delicious and
we used the cup we brought to serve ourselves…less cleanup for the hostess. She
dressed in a different costume every year and encouraged everyone else to come
in costume.
For their 40th anniversary, Suzanne had a new wedding
ring made for her husband and invited him to meet her at a little chapel in
northern California. She had a friend strew rose pedals around the altar before
they got there. When she and Tim arrived, Suzanne opened the small ring box and
presented it to Tim. Then she proposed.
“Will you marry me again?’
“Of course,” Tim said.
They renewed their vows and danced to their favorite song…“only
you,” right there in the chapel among the rose petals.
That about sums up Suzanne. She always looked for ways to bring
happiness to those she loved and joy to the stranger she just met.
A few years ago, Suzanne was diagnosed with leukemia and went
through a series of chemo-therapy in L.A. She kept her good spirits up through
her illness and never complained…ever. She soon went into remission. Everyone
rejoiced at the good news. But alas, the cancer returned with a vengeance, and she
went through another round of chemo. The treatment did little good and she and
Tim made the decision to stop all treatment in early Sept. She had fought the
good fight and was ready to “dance with Jesus.” She passed on Oct. 1st,
2015.
I attended her memorial the following Friday. The packed church had
all available seats occupied and people stood in the vestibule and front
entrance. A fitting good-bye to a person who touched so many lives.
