Susan A. “Suzi” Pearson
1948-2014
After a long battle with Dementia and Parkinson’s Diseases,
Suzi passed away at a local nursing home on August 30
th
, 2014 with
her husband, Steve, at her side.
Suzi was born in
Berkeley
,
California
and lived in
Danville
,
California
and
Lake Oswego
,
Oregon
before attending the
University
of
Oregon
where she met her husband Steve. Steve
was in Air Force ROTC and Suzi in Angel Flight and they got acquainted at a
“beer baseball game” in 1967.
They were married in1969 and honeymooned in
Victoria
BC. They spent the summer in a Forest Service
guard station before Steve was hired by Boise Cascade Corporation in
LaGrande
,
Oregon
. While in LaGrande she had two sons; Erik born
in 1971 and Michael born in 1974. In
1978 Steve was transferred to
Boise
,
Idaho
where they made their home
until this day.
Suzi was a terrific homemaker raising her two sons while
Steve traveled with business. She became
known for her gourmet cooking and also enjoyed catering small parties with her
business name of “
Garden
of
Eatin
”. She loved teaching her friends to cook and
even spent time giving Cuisinart demonstrations in
Boise
and
Twin Falls
. Her license plate on her car was
“Yummys”. She also enjoyed all kinds of
jewelry and worked part time at Sextys Jewelry where she sold jewelry and took
advantage of their employee discounts:~)
She loved
Champagne
and visited the
Napa
and
Sonoma
Valley
wineries many
times over the years.
She was active in the
Boise
community and was well known for her ready smile, creative ideas and
willingness to help out any good cause. She
belonged to and contributed to Beaux Arts, Junior League, WCA, and IWCF and was
on the board of FUNDSY. She enjoyed
being involved with the local Republican Party and helped organize events when
Ronald Reagan and Barbara Bush campaigned locally.
She loved to travel and enjoyed visiting all the
Hawaiian Islands
. Her favorite place to stay was the Mauna
Lani Hotel on the
Big
Island
and she enjoyed
snorkeling and just hanging out on the beach.
She finally got to go to Europe on her 60
th
birthday and
visited
London
,
Edinburgh
,
Glasgow
and
Munich
.
She also enjoyed river cruising with Steve in Europe and traveled from
Paris
to
Prague
;
Amsterdam
to
Budapest
;
Paris
to
Normandy
;
Paris
to
Monaco
;
and the Tulip Time cruise in The Netherlands and
Belgium
.
Suzi’s hobbies included cooking, collecting paper weights of
all kinds, Limoge tiny boxes and a variety of beautiful soup tureens and other
unique cookware. She was known by her
friends as a “black belt” shopper and enjoyed periodic trips to San Francisco
to shop and play “even Steven” when Steve went hunting.
She loved music including easy listening and most songs from
the 60’s era. One of her favorite songs
of all time is John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” and even wanted
it played at her memorial. She would
have loved to learn how to play the drums and as a girl at family gatherings
would excel at playing the “gut bucket”…
She loved dogs and over the years enjoyed a variety of
yellow
Labradors
. The family’s current dog is an Australian
Sheep Dog named “Vanna”.
Suzi is survived by her husband, Steve; their two children,
Erik (Cindy) Pearson of Nampa, Michael (Gillian) Pearson of Meridian, their two
grandchildren, Jack Pearson and Ginny Pearson; her mother Constance Davis of
Aliso Viejo, California; her sister Kathleen (William) Young of Mission Viejo,
California and brother Mike (Lori) Thompson of Gilroy, California and numerous
extended family. She was preceded in
death by her father, B. F. Thompson, Jr.
The family would like to thank the loving in-home caregivers
Jean and Judy from Multi-Care; nurses, staff and volunteers at the Owyhee
Memory care facility in
Meridian
and Marquis at
Shaw
Mountain
nursing home as well as St Luke’s Hospice and hospital doctors and staff.
A memorial reception for Suzi’s family and friends will be
held on Sunday, September 28
th
at Crane Creek Country Club from 3-5
p.m. The family requests that any donations be made in her name to their local
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Charities.