On Friday 9 October the costs to operate the Helen McArdle In-Patient Wing have been donated in loving memory of Susan Brown.
"After a sudden cardiac arrest on Sept 27th on the way to get her haircut by her friend Laura, Susan Brown (or Sue as she liked to be known), spent her last morning with her sons Darren and Michael beside her bed at Willow Burn Hospice on October 9th. In her final moments, the sound of St Bedes School Bell could be heard just down the hill as the school day started - the same school she worked at and had recently moved to.
The school bells were very apt - Mam loved working with children and was always someone who children gravitated to. She treated all children as equals and gave them respect. Perhaps it was this, her natural warmth and also her sense of mischief that often saw her followed or surrounded by students. Friends noted she was like the Pied Piper.
Mam had a generosity that overflowed and she would give her last to anyone. She was always worried about other people but never wanted any fuss herself. She especially cared for and loved animals.
Today will be one year since she passed. Darren and Michael are marking that occasion by returning to Willow Burn to spend some time in the garden to remember Mam and reflect on that day a year ago and also to show thanks to the staff at Willow Burn Hospice who made her last days as comfortable as possible - something they will always be grateful for.
Later in the day they will spread her ashes in Durham Park (where she now has a bench in her memory) and by the riverside in the view of the cathedral as she requested - both places she loved and visited often.
Born in Stanley, Sue grew up in South Moor and later moved to Tanfield and then Consett. Friends of hers will often tell us they always bumped into her around the ASDA for a chat but in remembering Mam, for Darren and Michael it will be her love of playing games, of the annual boxing day visit to the Christmas pantomime, her enthusiasm for stories and theatre, her love of Halloween (she'd always have sweets in for trick or treaters) and how much she loved Shirley Valentine and watched it more times than we can count. It's these things that we will remember fondly today and always.
She is very sadly missed but always fondly remembered.
Thank you Willow Burn"
