WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Sue died peacefully on January 20, 2020,
at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home after a short illness. She was a vivacious, intelligent and beautiful person. Born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, she was named Carolyn Suzanne, but she never used her first name. Six weeks later she was moved to Washington, D.C., snuggled in a dresser drawer. She grew up in D.C. and there attended elementary school. In her early teens her family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, where she attended Junior High and High School. She graduated in 1958 in the first graduating class of Walter Johnson High School. She was an excellent student and was Captain of WJ’s cheerleaders for two years. She met and dated Larry Averill, whom she married in 1962 after graduating from Indiana University. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority at IU.
After College she worked for the National Science Foundation supporting her husband who was in Law School. In 1964 she had their son Larry III. Then in a sense of adventure they moved to Laramie, Wyoming, where Larry was offered and accepted a position on the University of Wyoming School of Law faculty. They spent seventeen wonderful years there, had a second child, Liz, and acquired a plethora of great friends.
In 1982 the family packed up and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, as Larry became Dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s School of Law. Sue worked for a year at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editing and proofing the editorial page for the Editorial Editor. In 2000 they retired to Hot Springs Village. In total, they spent 31 years in Arkansas, where they made many friends. In 2013 they retired again to Winston Salem, N.C., so that they could be close to their daughter Liz, granddaughter Morgan and son-in-law Eric Tacik.
Sue was a leader: from President of the PTA to President of the Arkansas Chapter of PEO, she added benefit and improvement to her activities. She served with distinction as a member of the boards of the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation and the Levi Hospital board. Sue personally discovered, organized and planned the Future Fund program on the HSACF, which intended to build interest in young professional and businesspeople in the acts and benefits of philanthropy. She was also considered the better half of the couple in their marriage by many friends and acquaintances. As one friend recently said, “She was a great lady.”
A multiyear battle with Alzheimer’s sucked the spirit and genius out of her as it had done to her father. She was preceded in death by her parents and her son, Larry III. She is survived by her husband, Larry, daughter Liz Tacik, granddaughter Morgan Tacik, son-in-law Eric Tacik, brother Jef Morgan, sister Linda Morgan Otis and niece Hollis Oberlies and her family, and daughter-in-law Amanda French, Larry III’s wife.
Those who would like to pay tribute to her life can make a donation in her name to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund (34 Washington Street; Suite 310; Wellesley Hills, Mass., 02481) or the International Chapter P.E.O. Sisterhood (3700 Grand Avenue; Des Moines, Iowa, 50312), or to any charity of your choice.
Online condolences may be sent to www.salemfh.com.
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