Sue Stewart died March 13, 2016 after a long illness. Sue was a good friend to us, to children, and to all animals in her care, as well as being a devoted wife to Graeme.
We remember her joy in taking care of animals, whether working at Rhinebeck Animal Hospital, as a pet owner, or as a helpmate to Graeme in caring for our sheep. Sue helped Graeme with our sheep in so many ways, both at home on the farm and at shows away. She helped Graeme prepare the sheep for showing (at one point halter-breaking lambs from the seat of a power scooter !) and at shows. Her quiet but lively conversations at ringside were also an encouragement to us and to everyone around her.
Sue always made a special effort to help young people gain confidence in showing and handling and caring for their animals. She also helped not-so-young people like us, such as showing us how to set our sheep’s feet during shows.
Sue’s photographs, professional in quality although often given freely, grace many web sites and albums. She took some photographs of our grandchildren at Anchorage Farm and at shows, which she gave us and which we treasure. Some of Sue’s photographic images had the motto “Memories by Sue.” They will leave wonderful memories of her, as well as by her.
She helped the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Growers Association in many ways for many years, and she ran the sheep show at the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival for two years. She also worked with many of the children from the Southern Shepherds 4-H Club.
Sue’s remarkable grace and courage was evident in the ways she faced her long-term battle with cancer. In the past two years she was often in severe pain, but she endured this bravely and always tried to look on the bright side of things. Last December, after one of her frequent stays in the hospital, she told us how glad she was to be coming home and how much she loved it here at Anchorage Farm.
During our last visit with Sue she told us she had been knitting hats with young people to be given to cancer patients, and showed us some of these. Her initiative in this project seemed to us a good example of the way she was always thinking of other people more than of herself.
We will greatly miss Sue’s cheerful smile and her quiet encouragement, to us and to other people, but to Graeme most of all. Sue and Graeme were blessed in, and with, each other.
