Sue Morrow Flanagan

Sue…

She worked in Kathmandu, for The Financial Times in the 70’s & 80’s.  She wrote for everyone – The New York Times, The Guardian, Asia Pacific, The Observer, The Washington Post.  She did broadcast  for BBC and Canadian Broadcasting.  She worked locally, too, with the Historic Hudson Valley, National Maritime Historical Society, Clearwater Hudson River Revival, and of course, New York Waterways. President of the not-for-profit:  The Weston Charitable Foundation, and The Kitchawan Institute.  She had many passions — her children, human rights, and sustainable development.  And her husband, Tom.

Most years I visit  what was The Kitchawan Institute in late spring.  I go to see the beautiful yellow magnolias, created and planted there years ago by the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.   I sneak in now, because there are signs posted to keep people out.  I walk around the front garden, that I helped to fence, and look at the amazing plantings that were collected there.  I stand by the tree Sue had planted, recalling the day it was delivered, and how excited she was to look out a window and see it there.  I look upon the green building she created and recall those lovely days and evenings which were full of inspiration and excitement.  I sit on the stone bench, that still feels as if it was just put in yesterday, and feel the presence of Sue all around me, like a whirlwind that softly touches my skin, and invigorates my senses.

I went to work for her when she just had Morgan Brown & Weston Charitable Foundation, and from the first time I met her, I knew that this woman would change my life.  She sized me up in about 15 minutes, and before the two hour long conversation was over with, knew me, about me, and understood me.  She said once to me that she had looked into my eyes, and knew ..just knew.. what had happened with me, because she shared a similar history to my own. That immediate understanding drew me to her at first, but it was her gentle way of pushing you to be what you didn’t even know you could be, that made me reach for so much more, and want to keep this woman in my life.

She had this way about her that really made you want to do your very best for her.  You just felt that disappointing her would be awful, because she knew you were the best at what you did.  She surrounded herself, I think, with people who were the best – people who were smart, educated, kind, thoughtful, and could keep up with the conversation.

She made me realize how sheltered I had become, and to spread my wings a lot more.   My own life changed drastically, because of it.  My love of history was great,  but that wasn’t enough anymore.  I began really learning about politics, art, music, adding in new authors, reading about far-away places of my world, and coming to the realization that what happens half-way around the globe affects everyone, everywhere.   This is her everlasting gift to me and one that I will always treasure – She opened my eyes to the world, and the need for knowledge has never waned, the need to express myself has only increased, and the woman I am now is very much due to Sue.

She inspired everyone around her.   I don’t recall anyone who was not inspired by Sue’s enthusiasm for learning and for life.  She could easily talk in front of a large group of people, and grab their imagination with her voice, inflection, her words and her ideology.  But, just as easily, have a quiet conversation with you where she made you know that your thoughts, your actions, your life, as different as it was from hers, was just as important.  She made me (and all those around her) reach for more.

I often think of her this way..  sitting in her sunlit office, her feet curled up underneath her,  piles of books stacked everywhere.   Her writings, and correspondence littered on her desk, a cup of tea in hand, and gently..ever so nonchalantly.. remind you that you were important to the world.

And the world she loved so much just got a little emptier, without her in it.

Kahil Gibran said:

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Wasn’t she though?  Just delightful.

Michelle Piniella – August 26, 2010

~~~

From the New York Times:

Sue Morrow Flanagan – December 20, 1951 to July 6, 2010.

Sue, 58, passed away at home in Langley, WA on July 6, 2010, after eight years of cancer. Born December 20, 1951 in Oregon City, OR. She became an international journalist covering political events, Third World development, historic preservation, environmental issues and human rights for The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Economist, The Washington Post and the BBC. A longtime resident of New York’s Hudson Valley, she was known for her work with Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, the National Maritime Historical Society, publishing Water Ways: New York’s Waterfront News and founding the Kitchawan Institute. Sue is survived by her husband, Tom Laurenson; daughter, Lisa; son, Ruain; father, Roy Morrow and brother, Dean.

Like a lot of people, I have a ‘bucket list’ — a list of things I want to do before I die.   It’ll probably always be a work in progress, since this list is only 49 and not 100.  And for some of these things, I’d better get busy playing the lottery ..heh

1. Drive all of Europe, visiting every country
2. go camping under a starlit sky, at a beach
3. parachute
4. skydive in the Rockies
5. kyack down the Amazon
6. live at the beach
7. go on a vacation alone
8. have a man love me madly and think I am wonderful
9. see the pyramids
10. see Carmina Burana live
11. ride a camel
12. stand in the rain forest in Brazil while it rains
13. visit Normandy, Bastogne, Guadalcanal, Peileliu, Okinawa
14. be in a submerged submarine in the middle of the Pacific
15. ride in a helicopter
16. take off and land on an aircraft carrier
17. watch the Olympics at the actual Olympics
18. make love at a beach at night
19. swim with dolphins
20. whale watch in the Arctic
21. take a shower in a waterfall in the jungle
22. drive from New York to the tip of Chile
23. take Magellan’s route
24. take the Orient Express to the end and back
25. learn to scuba dive
26. visit every one of Michelangelo’s works
27. see the great barrier reef and scuba dive
28. dive with sharks
29. learn and then dance the tango in Brazil with somebody I am madly in love with
30. make love on the kitchen floor, and every other floor in my home
31. run a marathon
32. make love in the rain
33. see Africa and the Congo
34. walk on a glacier
35. witness a real volcano exploding
36. watch an orchestra play the Toccata, in Vienna
37. go to the super bowl
38. learn to play the guitar
39. raft down the Colorado River
40. learn to surf in Australia
41. go on a zip line tour of South America
42. drive a race car
43. go dog sledding in Canada
44. watch the sun rise at a beach in Crete
45. see the bulls run in Spain
46. take a boat ride down the Nile
47. see the bone chapel in Prauge
48. sip wine in Tuscany

This video comes to me at a time when I needed to hear it….. A lesson I really need to learn — being alone has not been for me.  But the person I want to be with prefers to be alone… I have never understood it, but life moves on, and changes happen.  I have to do the same.   I guess I better earn to dance like no one is watching, because, really..nobody is.