Suzan, as we all knew her, Susan Audrey Claudette Guest (née Savard), BA, MSc, MSc, PsyD. was her legal name, succumbed to her 20-year fight with cancer, after 17 years in remission. Three years of stage Four were really taxing. She is pre-deceased by her parents, Maurice & Kitty Savard, of Victoria, B.C. and survived by her husband Peter and brother Stewart Savard, of Comox, B.C.
She was proud of her roots in Timmins, Ontario. Her childhood was typical Army Brat, moving all over Canada and the world. She graduated from St. Columban’s School in Portugal. She earned her undergraduate degree at U.B.C. in Recreation, where she was among the last of the Fort Camp denizens and one of the first in Gage Tower. Her first post-graduate degrees were earned at George Williams College in Chicago, Illinois where she earned her M.Sc. in Recreation & Leisure Services and another in Organization Development, which became her chosen career path. She spent nearly 20 years in the Health Fields at various hospitals on the Lower Mainland, then decided another degree was needed. It was the Professional School of Psychology in Sacramento, California, under the sagacious guidance of her mentor and co-author, Bill Bergquist, where she was granted her Doctorate in Psychology. They wrote the book, “Who is Wounding the Healers?” along with help from Terry Rooney.
Photography played a big part of Suzan’s life as evidenced by the boxes of 35mm slides detailing her trip to Indonesia as a team leader with Canada World Youth. She was a proud member of the Langley Recreation Advisory Committee for three years. Her passion for the outdoors and photography took her into the Langley Camera Club, her Photo Buddies group, and the Burnaby Photographic Society. She has amassed almost one tera-byte of, “Photo Art-to-be,” Not to mention the piles of various gadgets necessary to capture that elusive frame.
Suzan was a voracious reader. She always had two or three books on the go. She leaves an interesting library of paperback Science Fantasy novels which led to her desire to go to New Zealand and see the Hobbit Shire and the many other wonders of the long white cloud. Her most memorable trip was the “Trip of a Lifetime,” to the World Congress of the O.D. Society in Cagliari, Italy; or was it the ocean cruise from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal? She loved to travel but when at home, she loved nothing better than to lie in the dappled sunshine at the Van Tan Club.
Donations, in lieu of flowers to the Langley Hospice Society, 20660 48 Ave, Langley, BC V3A 3L6