WILLIAMS , Susan Gay
On the evening of February 21st, Gay decided to surrender, without rage or rancor and “go gentle into that good night”. She was at home surrounded by her immediate family, after her courageous ten-year struggle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and a successful lung transplant. She died with her loving son and husband of over 40 years by her side, dying much as she lived, with courage, grace,
Susan Gay Stoddard was born on November 11, 1940 in Syracuse NY to Frederick Fayette Stoddard and Elizabeth Badham Bailey. She moved to Baltimore as a young child. She went to the Hannah More School in Reisterstown MD before entering the University of Maryland. She later received her Master’s degree in social work at the University of Pennsylvania. Early in her career, she worked as a social worker for the Sheppard Pratt hospital. She took time off after the birth of her son, Albert Hillsman Michaels III, before returning to Sheppard Pratt in the early 1980s. Her proudest achievement, besides her son, was when she was asked to start up and serve as the director of Sheppard Pratt’s first outpatient community health center and grow the program into what eventually became Mosaic Community Services, now an integrated part the hospital’s system. It has since become the largest outpatient community behavioral health system in Maryland.
Along with her lifelong passion for mental health and improving the lives of those who suffered, she was a talented artist, a great cook and was known for her parties and thoughtful gifts. She had a very strong moral sense, and of the proper social and professional conduct. Yet at the same time, she was gentle, bright and loving with everybody she met, engaging them in substantial conversations and showing tremendous interest in their lives.
In no less significant an accomplishment, Gay and her friend Susie Woody developed, manufactured and sold a line of mustards and sauces known as Hunt Cup Mustard, that quickly became a regional favorite. An article in the Baltimore Sun dubbed them the “Mustard Mavens”. While available for sale locally at Graul’s, Eddie’s and gift shops, it was also sold to Honey Baked Ham stores as far west as California.
In 1985, she married her second husband and soon to be soulmate Stephen Judson (Jud) Williams. They met while playing platform tennis at the L’Hirondelle Club when she boldly asked him to be her partner. Theirs was a special love affair and a bond made all the more evident during the later years of her declining health. Gay had a flair for interior design and enjoyed renovating and decorating her homes on L’Hirondelle Club Road and Cuba Road in Baltimore County. Gay also reveled in her adored grandchildren living in Scottsdale AZ: Alexa, Ethan, Ryan and most recently enjoyed her close texting connection with the youngest, Grace. Those connections will be missed, including that with Alexa’s step father Domingo “Chino” Diaz.
Her son Albert said of her “My mom made me feel like I was a special person and she did the same for everybody else. Whether it was delightful Easter egg hunts put together with meticulous care, hand-painting the eggs and then hiding them in delightful places. Or her legendary Christmas parties, everybody was filled with a sense of wonder and mirth for what she had created.”
Besides her husband, son and the grandchildren’s family, Gay leaves behind the Michaels and Willett clans whom she loved dearly and relished her time with the extended family. She will also be missed by Jud’s siblings, Lucy, Philip and Chris and their families. She is predeceased by her parents, her first husband Hill Michaels, who was a loving father to son Albert, the mother of her grandchildren, Jana Hayden Diaz, and granddaughter Joy Anna Diaz. Gay wanted no services, so the family asks that you hold her gently in your hearts and carry on her love and spirit of kindness.