              'Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
              Thou art more lovely and more temperate'
 
Right from the moment we met you Suzie, you were lovely. It wasn’t just the beauty of your eyes that made them so compelling, but more it was the steely conviction of your expectations and the constancy of your aroha for James that made them shine so bright. And yet you  also had that special ability to temper him, that James of yours - particularly his Milner boy propensity for storytelling embellishments.
 
Over our times together there are some special moments that stand out for us:
Huddled round the fire, or in fact almost in it, in your freezing cold Christchurch flat in winter; standing in absolute awe at the aesthetic order of your pantry in Wellington; sitting up front at the Melbourne theatre you had specially organised, and getting splashed from the curtain of rain that fell during the storm soliloquy in the amazing production of King Lear; enjoying the beautiful art that you and James created your Melbourne home around; being there when my Dad died and immediately organising flights home without  even having to ask; sipping  Suzie made Margueritas in the Woodlands after a long day at Mobil and allowing me to take your amazing kids, Liam, Catie and Mia on a magical walk up the maunga near our home in Auckland.
 
Arohanui Suzie. We will miss you. 
But we will also remember you - your high expectations, your strong sense of fairness and order, your tempering looks to remind us what’s right, and always, always your encompassing aroha for us all 
- and because of this you will continue to guide us and so for us
                         'Your  eternal summer shall not fade'
And we will remember you.

Tric and Malcolm 


I just wanted to pass on Julia’s and my condolences for Suzanne’s passing. It’s hard for us to comprehend how hard the last year must have been, and how much this must hurt for you, Liam, Catherine and Mia. And all the many other people who loved her. I hope you are doing OK. The service on Saturday was beautiful. You spoke really well – I don’t know if I could have done the same thing in your situation. It was so good to see all the photos and hear the special memories.
 
Suzanne was just amazing to know and to work with. She had the perfect balance of intelligence, great judgment and empathy. She was also one of the most organised people I know – when she handed over a role to me in 2015 she not only pulled together a complete folder of information, but it was indexed for easy reference and the soft copy of the notes had hyperlinks to where I could find documents on our LAN or intranet. She just got things done, and helped others to do the same.
 
She was also a great team member, and got into the spirit with HR team activities. I found these pictures of our Halloween dress-up in 2014, where she was in scrubs. There’s also a picture of a team lunch we had one day near the office.
 
It was a big loss for us as a team when you all moved to Texas, but she was very good at keeping in touch. I last saw Suzanne when I was in Houston for a meeting in December 2019, and she took time out of her day to take me to one of the Starbucks at the office. At the time she told me of the dilemma of accepting a localization to the US, and whether it was where you wanted to be for the long term. I’m sure you are going through all of that decision-making again.
 
Anyway, I just wanted to reach out and say that we are thinking of you. I find it hard to find the right words to say as I can’t comprehend how sad and awful this must be for you to have such a loss. I hope that you’re all doing OK under the circumstances, and that each day gets a little bit easier.
Take care.
Chris Quin

“Who was one of your favorite high school teachers? What made them great?”
From Rhian:
Your mum was at Iona for a year or two before I got there.  She quite liked Mrs Dugdale who was a fairly alternative type woman. She was often the director of our kura plays, your mum loved acting and singing so would always be part of the shows. She did great with Music, but again, our teacher was a bit of a stick in the mud and not a very likeable woman! Our English teachers were a force to be reckoned with!  Mrs Mead was an old crank, who always wore a scowl on her face but would light up when talking about Shakespeare and the story of the holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Ms Deeley always wore her hair in a french roll and we used to talk constantly about how long her hair must really be! Our Science teachers were Mr Marshall and Ms Benge.  Everyone said they were having an affair but actually Mr Marshall ended up going out with one of our friends mums… the scandal!!! Ms Benge was possibly Suz’s favourite science teacher, but not when she put a hose in the sheeps lungs and blew them up! She was a kind teacher and always wanted your mum, who in case you didn’t know is the cleverest woman I have ever met, to be successful. 


OBITUARY

Suzanne Elke Milner

10 December, 1977 – 4 June, 2022

Forest Park The Woodlands Funeral Home & Cemetery

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services