We said our final goodbyes to Suzanne Wildman — born Ward, married names Selwyn and Wildman — on Jan. 11, 2021, after 85 cherished years of laughter and love. Suzanne passed away quietly with her son, Kevin, by her side. The delight she took in people and her wonder of the world will be sorely missed.
Suzanne was born on Aug. 1, 1936, in Riverside, California, to Earl and Carol Ward and became the adoring little sister to Carolyn Ward. It was Carolyn who taught straight-laced Suzanne the ways of mischief and hijinks (a joy ride in the family car as preteens, for instance). Suzanne would cultivate that spirit of adventure throughout the chapters of her life, reinventing herself as a career gal, then mom, then back to career gal and through an active retirement of public service and lots and lots of movie musicals.
We’ll all remember Suzanne’s dazzling smile and gusto for a good laugh — she had one polite laugh for public and one throaty howl for family wisecracks about her drippy Jell-O salad (always too much fruit cocktail) and a naughty joke. Suzanne was always happiest at the center of a crowd of laughter and jokes and hugs.
If you were one of her two children, Kevin and Victoria Selwyn, you’ll remember a parade of admirers from her life — church, work, volunteering, care home — who inevitably said after finding out Suzanne was our mom, “Oh we LOVE Suzanne!” Long after dementia had taken so much from her, Suzanne’s humor and generosity elevated the spirit and illuminated the world of everyone around her.
But while she may have led with her good humor, what you might not know about Suzanne was the depth of her strength and her unflagging resilience.
Indeed, the buoyancy of her humor translated into a humbleness of spirit that enabled her to open new chapters in her life even under the most difficult circumstances. After losing the real love of her life, Jack Wildman, in 1999, Suzanne pulled herself out of her grief by way of a trip to Italy with her beloved sister. On that trip, sight unseen, she purchased a 30-year-old trailer on a tiny plot of land in Washington state to be close to her daughter Victoria and family. Suzanne hadn’t quite bargained for how beat-up a 30-year-old trailer could be, but she didn’t skip a beat, rolling up her sleeves and transforming the place into a fabulous beach retreat from which she launched a retirement dedicated to service and volunteering in her new community, Port Townsend. There, she established a new vocation serving women in the domestic violence shelter, volunteering with the Christian Science Reading Room, providing tourist information as a volunteer at the Port Townsend visitor center and working as an usher at the Port Townsend Film Festival.
Suzanne is survived by her two adoring children, Kevin and Victoria Selwyn; her cherished grandchildren, Nathanial, Julia, Owen Selwyn and Alexandra Eden; her beloved nieces and nephews, Tina Rung, Stephen, David, Greg Amador; and scores of friends who loved her as family.
Because of COVID, the family is unable to hold in-person services for Suzanne and instead is hosting an online memorial where friends and family can remember her in pictures and share cherished memories of her life. https://memories.net/timeline/suzanne-wildman-67112.
