Eulogy for Suzi

Suzi is on the left, I'm on the right.

While on the subject of loss and eulogies - this is one I wrote for one of my former students who died after a long chronic illness - she was 30 years old.

Eulogy for Susan Smith

I first met Suzi when she was a student assistant at the CDE in the CDUnit. Bob was her official supervisor, but I was the one that worked directly with her, gave her assignments, and monitored her work.

One the things I remember her saying frequently whenever I gave her an assignment or project was “I can do that” this I think reflected her work ethic and philosophy. Suzi was highly intelligent and quickly caught on to how to do things – nothing was too difficult for her to tackle. If she thought something could be done more efficiently or in a different way –she would say – why can’t we do it this way – or what do you think about trying it this other way.

She was an active member of a youth group at her church and went on a trip to Eastern Europe to an orphanage – the trip had a lasting impact on her. It seems to me that she met Jeremy at around that time. She was concerned that she was older than him – I told her that age didn’t matter – as long as they loved each other and wanted to be together. She was also concerned when she went to Fresno for her Dietetic Internship that they would be separated and the relationship would die – I told her if it was meant to be that – the separation wouldn’t matter. I was happy to learn that they stayed together and they were soon engaged to be married – I told her I wanted to go to her wedding – and she invited me. She was so excited that things seemed to be falling into place and working out for them!

She asked me to write her letters of recommendation for her internship and also for various jobs that she applied for. She wanted to be a clinical dietitian, based on her personal experience, so I was glad she had that opportunity. We kept in touch and whenever she would come to the Downtown Plaza – she made a point to stop in and say hello and let me know how things were going.

She told me she was frustrated with the way things were going at her job and was thinking about wanting to make a change – I encouraged her to come back to the CDE. Since, the Department was hiring additional staff– I encouraged her to apply and put in a good word for her with the supervisory staff. I told her it would involve quite a bit of travel and time away from home – but she didn’t think that would be a problem.

After she got the job – she was assigned to the Bay Area – she told me that her and Jeremy were really feeling more settled and that they were going to buy a house and start thinking about having a family. She was so excited about their new house and the possibility of having children. Just before I left the CDE in July, we had a long talk about her future and that her doctor had given her the green light to try to get pregnant. It was a real shock to hear that she was ill. She always knew she would need a liver transplant someday – but cancer wasn’t something she even thought about.

I think to her I was an advisor and a mentor. To me she was a special person and a true friend. I feel honored that she talked to me about her dreams, goals, and frustrations. I’m glad that I was able to talk to her a few times just before she died and tell her how much she meant to me.

I received an e-mail from her supervisor just after Christmas. In the e-mail her supervisor told me that she had visited with Suzi and that Suzi wanted her to thank everyone for the gift of time. What she meant was the Department allows employees to donate their vacation hours for catastrophic leave when staff run out of time (leave credits) – When I read that I wished that instead of giving her hours/money – I could have given her years of time instead.