Susan

Susan Begg 1950-2019

I found her in her bedroom.  Hugger, her cat, had been in the window, calling for help for a few days and finally, the humans in the world had gotten smart enough to go into the apartment to check on her.  She had stopped answering her phone when we called and had not been pleasant to the neighbors that had checked on her; and so we had all backed off to let her figure out what she wanted to do.  This was apparently it.  

Fiercely independent, she died in a way of her own choosing, in the apartment that she loved. We don't really know the cause of her death, whether she had fallen or perhaps had a seizure or a heart attack due to her drinking; the bureaucratic world has made everything very slow for us "not-blood-kin", but indeed she was dead, and we had to deal with the aftermath.  One of the positives is that I had to go through her books and her METICULOUSLY saved letters to and from everyone in her life.  She had important poems and essays clipped to all of her lamp shades.  She had a million photos and journals and lists.  She also had all of the things that her mom had saved, which were just as meticulously identified and preserved as Susan's things.  Lord, Susan was as much a pirate as any of the cats in my life.  (She, being a Navy type would probably really resent my saying this, but it's true, she leapt into people's lives, took them hostage with poetry and a mischievousness that was anchored deep in her being. She held them with her brilliance, her kindness, her sense of fun and a loving heart that could touch a wide variety of people. When she had to leave, she did just that, and you were left with a maelstrom of feelings.)  

And so, she has left us for the last time.

On September 15 it was discovered that the Outrageous Susan Begg had exited this world to attend to whatever adventure awaited in the next one. She was born with at least five lives, perhaps not the requisite nine of feline fame, but definitely more than one.

 She started out a Navy brat, born on July 31, 1950, into a Navy family to Chief Warrant Officer Robert Begg and Renie Begg.  When they were stationed in the States, she spent some of her childhood in Bucksport, Maine, which was the favorite Begg gathering place.  Although most of her childhood was spent overseas and on Adak Island in Alaska, she always felt that tie to Maine.   In all of these places, she learned to love the sea, world travel, and eventually, single malt scotch.

Her next life took her to Smith College where, amidst other brilliant women, she found that she also loved women.  Pretty much all of them. 

Life number three found her enrolled in the Cornell Veterinary School. She thrived and excelled!  She was dubbed “Boomer” by one professor and did her best to live up to the name.  She found another smart woman with whom she would be involved both personally and professionally as she moved out into the world. 

In life number four she did an internship at the prestigious American Medical Center in New York City, and then a residency in Pathology at Cornell. She worked for a few years in Buffalo and then weaseled her way back to Ithaca, leaving a string of broken hearts behind her.  She worked at Briar Patch Veterinary Hospital until she didn’t.  Then she started her own business, Vet Express, where she became loved by every client who needed her to come to their house and attend to their beloved pets.

At this point, the lives she led became somewhat entwined.  Alcoholism followed her from Life #2 until the end of her life. She became very involved with 518.  This relationship was very important to her.  When she was her best self, it was when she had an outside structure, and 12 Step was a powerful influence on her.  She played softball and rugby; she became a fire fighter­­-- a job of which she was particularly proud.  She joined the Unitarian Universalists.  

Then, finally, studying and working incredibly hard, she returned to the sea by joining the Merchant Marine.  In many ways, she felt that she had come home. In each of these lives she found families of friends, lovers, team mates, neighbors and coworkers, all of whom will miss her. She is survived by her cousin, Jane Paxton, by her sweet cat, Hugger, and by a small group of longtime friends—Team Susan--who knew her for decades, and supported her for the last few years of her life.

Starting in 2016, she began to suffer from the beginning stages of an Alzheimer’s-like dementia.  Sometimes she could roll with it, telling friends to call her moments before they arrived at her house because she “couldn’t remember shit”.  As her memory failed more and more, she became increasingly depressed.  She grieved for her mother who died in 2007, but always told people that she was blessed by the friends who rallied around her.  She struggled with her old demons. 

Later it became obvious that most of Susan had headed out to sea, leaving us with a pale imitation of her former, larger than life, self.  Like the Unsinkable Molly Brown, the Outrageous Susan Begg has pulled herself out of the water and charmed her way into the next adventure.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00pm on November 16, 2019, at the First Unitarian Society, 306 N. Aurora St., Ithaca, NY.  In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Ithaca Community Recovery, 518 W Seneca St., Ithaca, NY 14850.