Susie’s Life

Susan “Susie” G Wild (nee Guild) passed away in her sleep on Friday, October 13, 2023. Susie had suffered a long illness and is now at peace. She is survived by her husband, Michael Wild, her sister, Barb Czajka of Grand Blanc, Michigan, and her mother, Leta Guild of Lansing, Michigan. Susie’s father, Bernard “Ben” Guild, predeceased Susie in 2003 in Alaska.

Susie was born to Leta and Ben on November 20, 1962, and was described in announcements of her birth, including foot size, a standard biology method for describing specimens. Susie’s fondest childhood memory was with her parents during their summer on Georgian Bay on a small island with a cabin.

Susie took up ice skating early and was soon flying as fast as she could. For USA nationals in 1980, she was 4th in Junior Ladies in Atlanta, Georgia. This is after being diagnosed with leukemia, passing through chemotherapy, and entering remission. But in the 1980s, cancer was less known, and her protocol was insufficient to stop the leukemia. Susie’s choices were limited, and she and her family picked a radiation-based bone marrow transplant in Seattle; her mother, her donor, was a mismatch—but the risk was accepted.

Susie would battle the side effects of the radiation and the consequences of the mismatch for the rest of her life. Susie, no longer able to compete in ice skating due to the impact of the graft-versus-host issues and radiation effects, decided to try Central Michigan University. The radiation made her blind from cataracts, and no eye surgeon, until later, would risk repairing the loss. Thus, blinded and stiff from the effects of the transplant, Susie started her college life.

Susie selected Dietetics as her focus; CMU has one of the best programs, and she was elected resident hall president, too. Susie was picked for Mortar Board. Susie fell ill before her graduation, and a professor who took an interest in her, Dr. Pete Koper, cleared Susie to graduate and ensured that Susie graduated first while in a coma. Susie recovered and started her internship in Richmond, Virginia, for her licensing as a Registered Dietitian.

Michael Wild met Susie at CMU and soon joined in the caring and loving of his soon-to-be wife. Susie married Michael in 1990 after completing her RD, now added to her name. Michael and Susan shared an apartment in Laurel, Maryland. Susie’s eyesight was restored by cataract surgery.

Later, they would buy a townhouse on Oak Point Drive in Laurel. Susie worked for Marriott as a dietitian and later as a facility manager of Ring House. This was a kosher facility, and Susie soon developed a slight NYC Jewish accent to the delight of the residents, who often shared various cuss words for Susie to use in Yiddish—making Susie practice them until she got them perfect.

During state audits, Susie would be called “the standard” by the auditors. The new medical folks, the charting being manual in those days, would ask who this “Doctor Wild” was as Susie’s notes were so complete and helpful. After being promoted to manage Ring House, Susie was called the little hostess at Ring House by the residents, who thought she had never worn the same outfit twice. Susie loved to shop for clothing. Using her nearly perfect memory, Susie would know all the residents by name, their preferences, their health, and their family members’ names and would play the role of ideal hostess while being the manager.

Susie and Michael traveled to Israel with the Maryland Bible Society in 1994 during a moment of peace in the Middle East, the first of many international trips. Michael and Susie decided to try the Pacific Northwest, and Nike hired Michael and moved them to Aloha (Beaverton), Oregon, in 1996. Susie gave up her work at Marriott and would not return to dietetics. Michael and Susie continued to travel, and Susie visited the Great Wall twice, Europe, and all over the USA for various family events or with Michael for business trips for Nike.

Susie returned to ice skating, competed in light comedy, and won first place locally in 2010. Susie faced skin cancer that was controlled. She had a double mastectomy and never fully recovered from the anesthetic. But despite these trials, she began judging ice skating and trial judging and was appointed a silver judge.

Susie’s health began to decline with the first stroke, leaving her to use a walker. Susie joined Michael and friends in NYC when the pandemic seemed to be passing in 2021 and enjoyed a Broadway show, but Susie suffered a stroke in a hotel in NYC, and she and Michael spent three weeks in NYC until Susie recovered enough to travel. Susie had a series of strokes days after that that left her unable to walk, eat solid food, and care for herself, and her speech was affected. Susie moved to a care facility.

Michael visited Susie nearly daily for the next sixteen months—even when undergoing cancer treatments himself. Susie was cared for the last year of her life by the excellent people at Allegiance Senior Care, LLC, at their hummingbird house in Tigard, Oregon, an adult care facility. We could not have asked for a better place.

Susie entered hospice care twice, the last time days before her passing. Susie wanted no heroics and left this world resting next to her husband, who nodded off next to her as she passed.

The family has yet to decide what to do with Susie’s ashes. A concert and party to celebrate Susie is being planned for 2024.

Susie’s favorite drinks were ginger ale and bourbon (she would sneak a small bottle of Jim Beam onto planes when traveling) and a Southern Comfort Manhattan on the rocks with two cherries. She loved a grilled cheese fried in no-salt butter and cut into quarters. She would always eat three and keep a spare quarter for later.

Susie’s service is on 23 March 2024, at 4 PM, at First United Methodist Church in Beaverton.

Susie’s Michigan service is on 18 May 2024 ** at Grace United Methodist Church, Lansing, at 2PM.

** Not May 4