Susan McCall

Susan M. (Susy) McCall The love of my life, Susy, died at home on Monday afternoon January 18. Our children, Dave and Julie, came to visit early enough to enjoy her company for a couple of days. Three of our granddaughters also came, along with four great grandchildren (out of six). Susy grew up in La Canada California, the daughter of a Guatemalan born mother, Rosario, and her dad Alex. When she was 15 her mother took her on a Sabbatical for seven months to Madrid, Spain, and then toured Europe by automobile. Susy already knew Spanish because she spent a couple of summers in Guatemala with relatives, but her trip inspired her to learn more languages. So she took a French class at Muir High School in Pasadena. The teacher seated people alphabetically. Her last name was McPherson. The boy sitting behind her was a kid by the name of Freeman McCall (I was that lucky kid) who had also been to Europe the previous summer on a bicycle trip. Naturally, we talked a lot in class about our trips, but were often interrupted by the teacher saying, “Mademoiselle McPherson, ne molestez pas Monsieur McCall.” Two years later I told a gossiper who was a mutual friend “if Susy McPherson invited me to her Senior prom, I would go with her.” It worked. I also took her to a Dodger baseball game and she became a life-long baseball enthusiast. Our tombstone will have this inscription on the back “GO DODGERS, BRUINS AND LAKERS,” along with the number “42” the number on the back of the great Dodger, Jackie Robinson. She admired him greatly for breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. She attended UCLA during the years John Wooden coached basketball there. Needless to say, she became a basketball fanatic as well. Whenever UCLA played Stanford (my school), one of us would always remain silent after the game was over. Susy graduated with a masters in education and taught Spanish and social studies for two years, putting me through Seminary along with my rich grandmother. Isn’t it nice to have wealthy relatives? We married on August 27, 1965. We rejoiced in each other, body, soul, spirit, and mind for more than 55 years. She followed me wherever my job opportunities took me. There’s nothing in the world after a hard day’s work like coming home to a good woman who is glad you are there. Susy owned three businesses in her lifetime: the knitting nook in Corvallis Oregon, the Crafty Quilter in Cody Wyoming and the Crafty Quilter in Dillon. She loved to quilt and loved her quilting friends. She gave away dozens of quilts to charities, usually quilts with bright colors in simple patterns. Several times people went with her to Quilt Markets for a week Houston, Texas. Julie, our daughter said “oh yeah, I remember that. That was really fun.” Her friends at Kennel Club meant a lot to her. They would get together once a week to sew things to sell at farmer’s market and then give the money to the animal shelter. We loved traveling, sometimes alone, sometimes groups. Her favorite trip was sponsored by Stanford University to South Africa. The lecturer on that trip had helped Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu put together the “Truth and Reconciliation” courts after the end of the Apartheid regime. We also stayed three weeks in Penzance, Cornwall because she loved the television series called “Poldark.” Every day we would walk to a different nearby town like Mousehole, or St. Ives and then take the bus home. Our whole family loved to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. In 2012 our grandson, Shilo, was drafted to play baseball by the San Francisco Giants, much to Susy’s dismay (we would have preferred the Dodgers). Lots of laughter, eating, and conversation with the children and the grandchildren. What a joy! Susy knew ahead of time that being a minister’s wife was not going to be easy. Some churches (but none that I served) expect minister’s wives to teach Sunday School and either sing in the choir or play an instrument. She didn’t want to do any of that (although she did serve the Lord faithfully), so she decided to work. She did teach a through-the-Bible adult class for two years in California. Great wife, great mother, fun person to be around, now rejoicing in the presence of her Lord Jesus Christ. For a more full land complete story of her life consult Freeman’s computer