Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer Nov 2011

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,neeej
Date: 01 Dec 11 - 12:25 PM

Erin, sorry to jump like that. Tom (Susy's husband, for those who don't know) had requested that the info not be widely spread. So the emails I sent out were very specific that folks not forward them without checking with me first. I jumped to the mistaken conclusion that someone hadn't honored that. My apologies :-/

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Stewart
Date: 30 Nov 11 - 01:06 PM

Here's one of Susy's songs. It's typical of her gentle humor. You can hear her sing it on the Pacific NW Folklore Society Pacific NW Songs page.

PLEASANT & DELIGHTFUL SEATTLE - by Susy McAleer

Walking out of Monroe Center in Seattle into a sudden rain, John Dwyer said to Susy, "Ah pleasant and delightful Seattle weather!"

It was pleasant and delightful
On a wet Seattle day
To go strolling with your true love
Down by Elliot Bay
You hold her oh so tightly
Just as close as you can get
For her bumpershoot's not big enough
And you surely will get wet

For her bumpershoot's not big enough
For her bumpershoot's not big enough
For her bumpershoot's not big enough
And you surely will get wet

You lunch lightly at Ivar's
Right down on the pier
She nibbles at your clam strips
And calls you her dear
Take a trolly to Myrtle Edwards Park
Just to wade in Puget Sound
But your gloshes get their buckles caught
And you very nearly drown

You sit down on a park bench
To admire the view
From Magnolia down to Alki Point
And the ferry boats too
They ply their trades so merrily
Cross the sound and back again
That you move to kiss her moistly
Through the omnipresent rain

Yes, we will miss her greatly.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,Erin
Date: 30 Nov 11 - 12:58 PM

Susy's daughter Taj is my aunt. We spent all our holidays with her and she was always known as Grandma Susy in our house. I was told to spread the word about the memorial, I felt this was a good place to post her memorial info since it seems many people here cared about her.

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Nov 11 - 11:52 AM

There was a hoot/song circle set up after my Dad died. For someone who didn't practice (who positively eschewed) a religion, that was a great choice of memorial activity.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,neeej
Date: 29 Nov 11 - 12:14 PM

Erin, where did you get the info?
All...check with me before planning to attend

---

Information regarding memorial plans was posted by a guest without permission from actual parties involved, so has been removed by request. Please check with neeej regarding any such plans. Information will be posted as it becomes available. ---mudelf

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Deckman
Date: 28 Nov 11 - 06:04 PM

Thank you for letting us know Erin. bob nelson

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Genie
Date: 26 Nov 11 - 08:33 PM

You're right, Stewart. It seems that no matter what song you'd come up with, whether "folk" or some other ilk, Susy would not only know it but know another version and a parody to boot.

I am still absorbing this sad and shocking news, and it is indeed a great loss.

Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,Stewart - on vacation in CA
Date: 26 Nov 11 - 01:05 PM

That's very sad. Susy was a wonderful person, very gentle, great singer and seemed to know every song there was. Several times I would find some very obscure song to sing at a circle, and invariably Susy would say "that's an interesting version; here's the version I know." I never could find something she didn't know. I had her and Jean to my house several years ago to record several songs for our "Songs of the Pacific Northwest" CD. She had a beautiful voice. I will miss her very much.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 05:51 PM

Suzy was amazing in her ability to recall hundreds of songs. We shared Idaho heritage. I went to Sodo once to see her Belly Dance for a paid gig. My lasting memory was her aversion to mornings. I initially thought she was kidding at Silver Falls camp in the late 1980s. She wasn't and it gave rise to "I hate ro rise when the sun she rises" as an alarm clock. She and John co-wrote quite a few songs, often when on longer drives to or from sings.

You are silent in voice but not in memory now, Suzie.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Barbara
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 02:12 PM

Oh bummer. She was a fine person and I'll miss her.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Fred Maslan
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 01:57 PM

A shocker!Two years ago we sang Seattle's official song at folklife as part of the Alaska Yukon Pacific exposition centennial celebration, dressed in period costumes. Susy, my son Raffi and I.The song is pretty bad, but Susy was always a good sport. At song circle she would turn to me and say "You know the song about..." and sometimes I would, but often it was something She had stored in her memory from childhood.
Songs, poems, children's rhyming games, the list goes on and on.
Fred

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 11:51 PM

I think this was something that came up fairly quickly, though she had probably been aware of a problem for a while. I asked Jean Smith a few questions along those lines. They used to go to Hawaii for special "slack key" (is that the style) lessons on occasion, I think. I have some beadwork around here that she was doing in the 1990s, Dad had some samples he sent me.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Genie
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 12:22 PM

And, mg, thanks for posting the link to Susy singing "Northwest Gal." I had not heard her do that one, but it's great, and it reminds me how Susy was always quick with the parodies of popular folk songs, as well as with a whole trove of other funny songs.

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Genie
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 12:18 PM

Oh, no!

Yes, Susy was such a sweet and talented person, always having special contributions to song circles and other musical gatherings.   I didn't know she was fighting cancer, so this is very much a bolt out of the blue to me. A very unwelcome one.

Bob, you're so right about Susy often sitting quietly knitting (or crocheting?) while she listened to others' songs, but harmonizing or coming up with the missing line or verse as needed too. She would often share interesting background stories about the songs too.

This is very sad news for the Pacific Northwest folk music community, especially Seattle.

Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Deckman
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 07:51 PM

SRS ... send me some recordings of her and I'll make sure that they get to U.W. archives. bob

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 07:43 PM

Here is one of two songs onthat page

http://pnwfolklore.org/NorthwestGal.html

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 07:36 PM

Come to think of it I think she is on Stewart's Pacifc NW Folklore Society page. mg

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 07:35 PM

It would be great if you could post something on youtube without perhaps giving names. mg

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 07:29 PM

Thanks, Don, I'd forgotten who all was in that photo.

This certainly does bring a flood of memories of Dad and all of the folk music we grew up with. I have lots of tapes with the two of them singing together, and Susy alone.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Deckman
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 06:35 PM

Susy's passing leaves a huge hole in the Seattle folk community.

As I fondly remember her, I picture her sitting off to one side in a song circle, with her knitting keeping her fingers busy. Just about the time when someone would start to falter at remembering the next line to a song, you would hear her calm voice, softly singing that next verse, and the next verse. Next to her friend John Dwyer, she had the largest repitoire of anyone I ever met.

Susy always gave a quiet kind of grace to this music we love.

Seattle is weeping tonight. bob

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Amergin
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 06:26 PM

Looking at the photos, I now know who she is. I do remember meeting her a time or two, and she seemed like good person. To those who actually knew her, I'm sorry for your loss.

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Deckman
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 06:22 PM

The longer I live ... the harder the "goodbyes" become. It's either that I'ved lived too long ... or others are living too short. bob

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 06:19 PM

Barbara just got a phone call about an hour ago from Nancy Quensé. Nancy said that Jean Smith had just called her and told her of Susy's passing. Just as Barbara told me, I was in the process of opening Mudcat, and here was this thread.

Susy was a lovely person with a beautiful voice, a headful of songs, and a real knack for singing them. She was one of the original members of the Seattle Song Circle. We haven't seen her for some time. This is sad news.

I just remembered that there is a picture here on Mudcat of a number of people who gathered together some years ago for the scattering of John Dwyer's ashes, and Susy is among them. And sitting next to her is John Ross who, also, is no longer with us.

Edmonds Ferry.   And scroll down for more photos of "the usual suspects." Second photo from the bottom is another of Susy, with Stewart.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,Doug Reymore
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 04:57 PM

I just now learned of Susy McAleer's passing. What a sad loss of a sweet, special, talented and caring person. This Thanksgiving I'll be especially thankful to have known her.

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 04:47 PM

R.I.P. mg

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Deckman
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 04:24 PM

DAMN DAMN DAMN

Subject: RE: Obit: Susy McAleer - Seattle folk singer 11/2011
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 04:11 PM

I'll post a link to a thread from 2001 because when talking about my Dad so many of the other PNW singers, including Susy, came up in the conversation. I don't know if she ever joined Mudcat, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was here as a Guest.

SRS

Subject: Obit: Susy McAleer of Seattle, folk singer
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 11 - 04:04 PM

I just heard from Jean Smith that Susy McAleer passed away. Metastatic breast cancer. I'm sure many of our Seattle and Pacific Northwest folks will have fond memories of her. We've spelled her name several ways over the years, I looked it up in my Dad's old address book.

Maggie