Susan E. Heller
Susan Elizabeth Heller, 85, passed away on August 9, 2022, at GBMC in Towson, MD, from complications due to kidney disease. She has resided in the Annapolis, MD, area since 1963—in Severna Park’s Oakleigh Forest, Rugby Hall in Arnold, and for the past 11 years at The Reserve in Heritage Harbour. Sue was born on October 25, 1936, in Morristown, NJ, to the late Edward and Viola Holsten, and grew up in nearby Mt. Kemble Lake. She graduated in 1955 from Morristown High School, where she met her future husband, Charles Heller, and where she became Charlie’s beloved “Sammy”.
Sue earned a BS degree in elementary education from Trenton State College (today, College of New Jersey) in 1959, and she and Charlie were married one day after her graduation. They moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he was completing graduate studies at Oklahoma State University.
In 1960, the couple moved to Santa Monica, California. There, Sue began a long and distinguished career as an educator, teaching second grade in Torrance. When Charlie accepted an offer from Bell Labs in Baltimore that would allow him to complete his doctorate while working, Sue and he came to Maryland in 1962. A year later, they discovered beautiful, historic Annapolis and came there to stay. The Hellers’ only child, David Arthur—the “apple of Sue’s eye”— was born in Annapolis in 1964. She became a kindergarten teacher at the Naval Academy Primary School, a position that brought her joy and satisfaction for the next 30 years, until retirement in 2001.
Sue was an excellent and enthusiastic athlete: swimmer, skater, skier, sailor, hiker, and golfer. The Hellers raced three different sailboats as a family out of the Annapolis Yacht Club. Sue was particularly proud of several victories while skippering “Pistol Pete” in allwomen regattas. She enjoyed downhill and cross-country skiing throughout the West and New England, with particular fondness for the mountains surrounding the family’s vacation home in Canaan Valley, WV.
As a golfer, Sue was women’s tournament chair at The Country Club at Woodmore before performing the same function at the Heritage Harbour Golf Club. She was also an active golfer at Blue Heron on the Eastern Shore. Sue was an avid reader and enjoyed traveling, particularly on frequent visits to Charlie’s native country, the Czech Republic. At Heritage Harbour, she was treasurer of the Women’s Club.
She is survived by hundreds of friends and a loving family: Charles, her husband of 63 years, of Annapolis; son David of Annapolis; three grandchildren—Samuel of Fall City, WA, Sarah of Severna Park, and Caroline of Annapolis; and one great grandchild, Cole of Fall City, WA.
A celebration of Susan Heller’s wonderful life will be held at a yet-to-be-announced future date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to The Kidney Foundation, www.kidney.org/donation.
Online condolences may be made at www.LastingTributesFuneralCare.com