Susan Mary Tennant

Susan Mary Tennant

February 6, 1940 – March 15, 2024

Susan Tennant (nee Carey), of Victoria and Bowen Island, passed away suddenly on March 15, 2024. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on February 6, 1940, Susan grew up in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver. As an adult, she lived all over the world – Vancouver, Chicago, Washington DC, Penang, Tokyo, Tokushima, Miyazaki, Nagoya, Bowen Island, and Victoria.

Predeceased by her parents and older sister Carole, she is survived by her sisters Jocelyn and Linda, sons Chris (Giuditta), Doug (Susy), Matt (Jill), Jon (Marc), grandchildren Krista, Erin, Olivia, Nick, Mikylo, Joshua, Rebecca, Noah, Kate, Jack, Andrew and Finn, and many, many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

Susan attended Magee Secondary School and then the University of British Columbia, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts followed, many years later, by a Masters in English. It was at UBC that she met and married Paul. Although they later divorced, they remained friends, and the extended family have many happy memories of spending time with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Paul at the beloved Gun Lake property they purchased in 1967.

A gifted teacher, Susan taught English as a Second Language at Langara College and Britannia Secondary School, and later at universities in Miyazaki, Tokushima and Nagoya, Japan. In 2010, she published a well-received translation of Takamure Itsue’s account of her 1918 Shikoku Pilgrimage. Susan was drawn to the story because, like Takamure, Susan always forged her own path in a world that favored men.

Susan was a passionate environmentalist and activist. In 2010, she spent a day in jail after protesting the construction of an environmentally-damaging road for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She advocated for the unhoused and fought for a more just society. She led by example, living a frugal and low-impact life. She always took public transit, loved shopping at thrift stores, and volunteered at the Knick Knack Nook on Bowen Island.

Susan was generous with her time and resources, and thought of others before herself. She tutored many young students in math and English, generously supported numerous charitable causes, and was a mentor and champion for countless young women.

Susan was also a savvy investor who understood that financial power comes as much from spending less as earning more.

As she aged, she fiercely guarded her independence. She loved to garden, go for long walks, and pick wild blackberries. She took up yoga. She always had time to play with and read to her many grandkids. She lived life to the fullest, and was always game for a new adventure. From capture the flag, to bicycling, to boogie boarding, Susan was up for every challenge. At the age of 78, she joined her family for a three day trek in the Chilcotin wilderness, climbing cliffs and scaling scree slopes with determination and dexterity. On more civilized walks on Bowen Island, her impressive pace left anyone expecting a leisurely stroll with an octogenarian panting for breath. She was always ready to try a new restaurant, a new recipe, or (best of all) browse a new thrift store to find the perfect book or toy for one of her grandkids.

Susan was an excellent host who loved to prepare meals for her large family. Grandchildren sleeping over in the loft of her Bowen Island cottage would wake to the smell of her delicious home-made waffles. Every year she picked Bowen Island blackberries using ingenious handmade tools to avoid the thorns, and made mouth-watering blackberry pies. Everyone remembers the meals she served on the lazy susan in her dining room, with chopped vegetables, rice, tofu, miso soup, Japanese or Malay curries, and a cornucopia of Asian sauces.

Susan loved getting to know people and had a gift for making anyone feel comfortable. She loved learning other people’s stories and was always striking up conversations with strangers on public transit. She made hundreds of friends from around the world over the course of her long life and kept in touch with many through letter-writing, even after the advent of email and texting. She had an encyclopedic memory for relationships, and astounded her sons by remembering their friends from childhood, sometimes better than they did.

You can celebrate Susan by enjoying the outdoors, taking public transit, using your local public library, shopping at thrift stores, or choosing not to buy something you don’t really need.

If you wish to honor her memory, please make a donation to the charity of your choice.

A celebration of her life will be held later this summer at a location accessible by public transit, as Susan would have wanted.