September 13, 1945 - July 1, 2024
One key quality that builds resilient communities like Stratford is the quiet, constant commitment of its citizen volunteers; Susannah (Sue) Read was one such person. She led an active life that included her advocacy and personal loyalty to local organisations like the Kinette Club and the Boards of Directors of Gallery Stratford and Stratford Summer Music. On Monday morning, July 1, 2024, Sue bid farewell surrounded by her beloved family – husband of 55 years, Gregor, daughter Allison and son-in-law, Trent. She was a strong and vibrant woman, who remained continuously positive and determined in the face of recent health challenges.
Sue’s youth and world perspectives were framed by living internationally in Hong Kong and the Bahamas when she and her sister, Joan, travelled with their mother and father who represented the British government’s educational programs around the world. In 1964 the sisters came to Sackville, New Brunswick to study at Mount Allison University and it was there that Sue met and married Gregor, a dashing young football player; eventually they travelled to Stratford, Ontario to pursue his career in education, to welcome their cherished daughter to the world and to build Sue’s own professional career as an executive assistant to the Dean of the School of Nursing at Conestoga College’s in Stratford and Kitchener.
Sue loved gardening and tending carefully to the flowers and grasses of their residences on Feick, Briarhill and Front Streets. She had an amazing eye for design and everything she touched transformed with elegance. She enjoyed dinners with friends, social events and the theatre. She also favoured the warmth of the sun so in their retirement years she and Greg spent winters in Osoyoos, B.C. where, once again, her inclination to volunteer and her creative energies saw her fashioning and donating jewellery to local charitable groups.
Sue’s ashes will be scattered in the sunniest possible location in Avondale Cemetery, close to a yellow magnolia tree that will bloom its own contributions to this community when Spring’s warmth returns each year.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the W.G. Young Funeral Home for private honours. Sue’s life will be celebrated privately by her family. The family would appreciate memorial donations directed to the London Regional Cancer Centre.
