Linda Baker Freepons

About 2000, when I was one of the few female PMs at MSN Ops, I was told that I should meet a woman who had joined the MSN Networking team from MSIT. Susan’s arrival on the MSN Networking team was a great lift because Susan brought to any team she joined a willingness to: listen, understand and resolve. In addition, Susan used the highest degree of integrity in all of her interactions with others – no matter what their status in the company.

I remember walking up the corridors of RedWest E, from East to West to collect Susan from her office and continue in a bee-line to the café to discuss, understand and resolve network and hosting issues.

That was the start of our friendship.

It was early days that Susan told me of her pending adoption of a Korean baby girl. When I heard that she was not collecting the child herself from Seoul, I was very concerned. Susan quickly reassured me that Victoria was being accompanied by a member of the U.S. Military and was completely safe. The next Christmas I get to meet Victoria in person when I was invited to share Christmas dinner.

Susan was refreshingly transparent about herself, her family and her work. This was a huge gift for me as an immigrant with no family or friends from the old country to answer life’s burning questions. Over our 21 year friendship, we discussed everything from network hosting, professional development, health and longevity, investment and savings, account management, real estate, and survival. We debated politics, medical issues, elder care, and quilting machines. As one of my closest friends, she supported me through several challenging work and family issues – Susan always there to listen.

When I was no longer working at Microsoft, we would walk weekly either together or separately and chat via phone. Even when I was in Ireland for 3 years, I would still walk every Sunday with Susan. Other times we talked daily as sounding blocks for our different work and family plans.

I have special memories of sharing Thanksgivings, Christmases, meeting members of the Trans community, Seattle Pacific Museum, going to films and Downton Abbey-esque afternoon teas.
It was my great honour and pleasure to have been invited to the wedding in Iceland where I got to organize the flowers, hair and Bride’s breakfast. Also, Susan’s great love of Disney and all the Disney holidays that she took with Ian and Victoria. I remember a dramatic moment when Susan said that Disney was the source of happiness for her, being American she was raised on Disney from her earliest youth – that was a very passionate laugh. Then at Christmas, getting the latest annual letter. Susan and I spent long hours discussing sewing machines, going to quilting shops and discussing the fiber arts.

Susan’s enthusiasm was infectious, and, she was not afraid of queues. I have a store of memories with Susan off to get in line for the Apple Phone for Ian, Tory and Sam when every new version was released. Then there was Disney, buying the latest Harry Potter, getting the latest Laptop, Tablet, Phone, headset, and anything that was her family member’s heart’s desire – Susan was always there putting Family First.

Professionally, Susan was a ground-breaker and mentor for women in IT. She was a founder member of the Mentor-Ring at Microsoft which focused on helping women at Microsoft build their careers. Susan took on professional development with a passion. When it was suggested that she needed to understand the product and application space as well as network engineering, she joined the Microsoft AX Dynamics team, learning the application space, bringing all the skills and experience from network engineering with her, which benefitted that product’s success enormously.

When Susan’s family decided that Boston would be a good place to live – Susan packed her career with the household and crossed the States to start a new life in Boston. The fact that she had no prior experience of living and working on the East coast, and, that it was never in her career plans to do so was not a concern for her because she believed that family came first. Though she was a passionate strategist, a completely dedicated team member who regularly went far above and beyond, working far into the night to support team members no matter how humble the task: family always came first.

The move to Boston was the wind that lifted Susan’s career. It seemed that Susan was now getting the recognition as a expert that was long over due. The opportunity to be a network evangelist for Hurricane was an achievement that she was proud of. It is no surprise that Susan was a success because it tapped into her super-power.

So what was this super-power? a genuine interest in helping others combined with technical knowledge and extensive hands-on experience of network engineers, and great writing skill.
When Susan was elected to the board of NANOG, she was proud of being selected and to be recognized. Based on our conversations, she underplayed it – as usual: humble to a fault.

It was a great honour to be invited to Iceland to celebrate the marriage of Fearghas and Susan. I asked Susan what she needed and she said that she had done nothing about hair and that became my task. We had a great morning before the wedding running around the Reykjavik suburbs, in the rain and sleet, delivering Susan to the hair dresser, and, getting completely lost trying to get from the Hairdresser to the Flower lady. When we reached the Flower Lady we discovered that she had created the most beautiful traditional Icelandic Wedding head-band with miniature roses – all out of season, a bouquet and corsages all put together in a way that would survive anything the Icelandic weather could throw at us …. And it did – through the icy rain and sleet, Susan bounded from hairdresser to home and back to the registry office laughing all the way to meet Fearghas and family all in kilts. It was a wonderful wedding that was a view into the life that Susan and Fearghas would have together with opening up a life of travel and great cuisine. Susan was for ever telling me about Fearghas’s culinary skills and the travel adventures.

Another special memory is that of my brother being invited to share Thanksgiving with Susan and extended family. They shared the same birthday. Andrew sends his deepest condolences – he was shocked and saddened by Susan’s passing – as she had made a great impression on him.

My last meeting with Susan was last July, when she came over to be with Sam for her knee replacement surgery. Susan extended an invite to stay with her in Boston… and I mourn not being able to fulfill the fun of seeing her life in Boston.

I offer deepest condolences to the Fourney, McKay, Taylor families, as well as Susan’s friends on the West and East Coasts. Susan will always be with me, as she was closer than my own sister. I can see my future with lots of “What would Susan do” moments because Susan always took the noble path, seeking to do the right thing: Susan always followed her Best Angels.

Rene, Claudia and Phibie Lou Fichtmueller

Sep 30, 2021

I’ve known Susan from conference-presentations up to a certain day X.

It was one day in April 2018 when Fearghas invited me to Boston to talk to me about Flexoptix. A trip with a stop-over via Reykjavík and a connection to Boston.

Fearghas, I’ve known a few days longer and also knew about the wedding in 2017. And I know from stories how great it was. And this wedding showed me that both must be soul mates. Soul mates who get along straight away, appreciate each other and, above all, love each other.

When I arrived in Boston, I already knew Fearghas personally, but I didn’t know Susan yet and from the first meeting I was overwhelmed. I did not expect such an open and friendly person… you always know the statement from Europeans:

“Americans Are Superficial”

But this does not apply to anyone I have been able to get to know in my life. And certainly not for Susan. She is clearly a personality, a person of respect… a woman in a male-dominated industry.
Arrived quickly at home with Susan and Fearghas … one thing was clear … my house is your house and my family is your family.

During my visit, we went to the gym every day and had a wonderful time together which I remember fondly. But not only these days in Boston are memorable for me. Everything that came after that, every single trip she was on. It was always very familiar when we met or saw each other. Over the years Susan and Fearghas have become my second parents.

Fearghas, the dad who always has to take care of his children (me and our Flexoptix Colleagues):
“Children behave!“

Susan, who always had a brisk saying and a smile but also a laugh on her face … the woman who is a role model for many other women in our industry.
For me, Susan and Fearghas are and has always been the symbol of a relationship. They could rely on each other and were soul mates, one knew what the other wanted to say. And that’s what I always loved about Susan.

Susan was never arrogant or hypocritical. She was always on a par with all of us. For many colleagues in our industry, she was not just a good friend, no, she was a strong mentor for many colleagues. She was happy to support and help without asking for anything in return and you could always rely on her. She was always like a second mother to me.
When I remember how happy she was for us (me and my wife) when our daughter Phibie was born. Susan was obviously a very emotional person and that was always one of her advantages, so she was always a person, she was a mother!

I’m really sorry. And I could cry all day I will miss Susan very much. I’ll miss the laughter … I’ll miss the “and how is Claudi” conversations in which I kept Susan updated on my family.
In August I wanted to go to Boston and Washington and that didn’t work out because of the entry requirements for the USA. And that’s exactly what hurts the heart. I would have loved to be there to pay my last respects and to be able to stand by Papa Fearghas.

Susan, rest in peace!

Thank you for everything I was able to learn from you.

Thank you for every second that we were allowed to spend together.

We will all miss you very much!

Jim Angell

Sep 30, 2021

Sue was one of my best friends in the world. We shared our frustrations as correspondents in distant lands (well, 50 miles away or so) at the same newspaper in eastern Washington. We cheered each other on through our advancements and consoled each other when we went toe-to-toe with our bosses, who somehow never seemed to be quite as smart as us.
We got together about every weekend and Sue had this thing she did when she wanted to do something I didn’t want to do — I called it her “basset hound eyes.” (Long before either of us owned bassets). She would flash those eyes at me and I couldn’t resist. Mostly what she wanted to do was clean my apartment, which was only kept up to bachelor standards. And very low ones at that. But one flash of those eyes and I had to assent. And usually get roped into helping.
I’ll miss Sue’s impromptu phone calls, her outrageous and infectious laugh, her always sunny outlook and her ability to tell me hard truths in a way that made them so easy to handle. She was a grand friend.
This picture is of a very, VERY young Sue and Jim from when I gave her a ride to San Francisco and then conducted a one-man tour of northern California.

Jim and Mary Angell will be at the memorial service at Prosser House.

Rosa Monroe

Sep 30, 2021

Dear Susan, I still remember you were biking by my side at MV last month, I still can hear your laughing on the ferry way back. How I wish we could bike again ! I will always remember you and miss you!

Falk von Bornstaedt

Sep 23, 2021

So sad to hear about her passing away. I think I last met Susan at the RIPE meeting in Rotterdam. Always very nice conversations with a talented woman.

Laurie Dunham Kroes

Sep 22, 2021

Here is always-cheerful Sue at a WWU journalism picnic, probably 1978. We lost touch for a while, but reconnected when I arrived at Microsoft as a technical editor. By then she had left journalism and was a network engineer. I doubt many people can make a transition like that.

Chris Whyte

Sep 22, 2021

I met Susan back in 2001 when I joined Microsoft. We ended up working together for the next ~7 years (often on the same team). There was a small core group of us who were very close and spent quite a bit of time together. I can’t even begin to count the number of times we sat in her office or in a cafe talking about how to navigate the numerous challenges we faced at Msft or just life in general. I remember how distraught I was after my mom died in 2008 and she was always there to comfort me.

She was the epitome of a kind, generous, thoughtful and compassionate human being and I’m probably a better person today because her.

Sep 19, 2021

Sue Taylor, as she was known in 1982, was the first friend I met after moving to Sunnyside, WA. We were both bureau reporters working for competing newspapers (but covering different beats) and lived in adjacent rental houses. Initially, our friendship was rooted in the fact that we were young, single professional women in a small, rural Eastern Washington town. We soon discovered common interests that led to a 40-year friendship broken only by her sudden death. Over the years we shared many life experiences, including road trips, marriages, medical issues, relationship and career changes, motherhood, the deaths of family and friends, and countless cups of hot tea. Sue was always the more progressive one in our friendship – the first to move from Sunnyside, the first to marry, and the first to leave journalism. It was amazing to watch her blossom in the male-dominated tech world. I was so proud of her accomplishments (even though I really didn’t – and still don’t – understand routers and such). Life gets busy, especially when kids come along, and our friendship evolved to longer phone conversations and fewer in-person visits. I was grateful to be her matron of honor when Sue married Fearghas, just as she was mine when I married Tom in 1986. Sue was always there for me, and I miss her terribly. I have this irrational desire to call her cell, even though I realize she won’t answer. Rest well, my friend. I love you, and look forward to seeing you again someday.

Linda Baker Freepons

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Rosa Monroe

Jacqueline Young

Rene, Claudia and Phibie Lou Fichtmueller

Jim Angell

Rosa Monroe

Falk von Bornstaedt

Laurie Dunham Kroes

Chris Whyte

Linda Baker Freepons