Susan Elizabeth Brewster

My parents have asked me to share my father's writing on their behalf: Susan, Our Friend and Family Here at home, we greeted Susan often by her first name, and she greeted us by ours. By contrast, the traditional Chinese greeting would have been very specific: 親家 (pronounced as Chin Jiah). 親 means close, and 家 means family. We will always remember Susan as our close family. Our close relationship with Susan was long and storied. The last fifteen years or so, we celebrated the birthdays of our family members many times, and two very memorable trips together in Alberta stand out. One was four years back when we rode the Big Valley Train in the fall. Susan said it was one of the trips she had looked forward to for a long time. The other trip happened in March of 2009 when we visited Canmore-Banff-Lake Louise. It was supposed to be a skiing and sightseeing trip. Well, that first day was rough beyond imagining. First, someone (Kari!) busted his ankle just before we were about to leave. Skiing was definitely out, and his sightseeing would be done from a wheelchair! On the way to the mountains, we drove through one of the nastiest blizzards south of Red Deer. We didn't even get to Canmore that night, but had to stay in an almost shockingly dilapidated hotel in Airdrie. The Rockies in March were spectacular though. Now that we are in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, that trip is ever more memorable. With regard to family-ness, it was a devastating apartment fire that brought us the exceptional opportunity to be together as one family, under one roof, for much of the fall of 2018. As we shared many of our home-cooked meals, we had lively conversations ranging from politics, arts, culture and science. Susan always impressed us with her positive outlook in the future, her passion for what constitutes beauty in life and compassion for the needy. Also, Susan was unwavering in her compliments to the cooking even when some suppers didn't exactly go according to plan. Her graciousness felt loving and was always appreciated. It is with immense sadness that we say our final farewell to Susan. In Chinese, we say, "親家走好!" which we could translate contextually as, "Safe travels, Susan, on your journey home". Miranda and Frank Pau Fort Saskatchewan 2020-05-05