Susan M Shuffler

I will forever feel an emptiness,

Even in the hollow of my heart where your love still lives,

I will feel forever alone,

My greatest champion has left me,

And now I must conquer on my own.

For many of you that knew my mother, Susan Shuffler, she had various dispositions. Sometimes difficult, complicated, strong willed, and hard headed to say the least. Her life was one of struggle, hardships, and heartbreaks, but also joy and love from her family. For those of you who didn’t get to know her well, I want to tell you she was an incredible human, one of the best I knew.

She lived by strong Catholic morals and principles, the same she taught and passed to my brother and myself, for which I am forever grateful. She walked in the footsteps of her beliefs that she so often preached. She instilled in my brother, Kenneth Shuffler, and myself, Susanna Shuffler, love, compassion, empathy, humility, giving, patience, kindness, and most of all understanding and love. Throughout our childhood she took every opportunity to help anyone in need. To name a few, she helped an abused woman by giving her a place to live until she got safely back on her feet, she gave a homeless teenager a place to call home and helped put him back into school, and she gave a roof and bed to my college friend in her time of need. She loved and cared about so many people, our family, our friends, and even strangers, but hardly showed her true feelings. She gave my brother, myself, my children, and all of our family unconditional love.

She taught this same love to her two grandchildren, Maya and Niko Gawande, who she helped me raise for the last 10 years, since I was rather much on my own as a parent. She loved them like her own and referred to them as “her babies babies”. Truth is she needed them, just as much as we needed her. They brought joy, cuddles, and love to her singular life. Her absence will leave a hole in our hearts and in our home. We all loved her, we are all grateful for her love, kindness and the gift of her time. Her mark will last forever on many lives.

To those that mattered the most to her, her children, her grandchildren, and her sisters, we all say thank you. Thank you for your life, thank you for your lessons, thank you for your horrible lectures, thank you for putting up with all of us, thank you for always being there and being my rock and beacon, thank you for your constant giving, thank you for absolutely everything. For me, there is no replacing you mom, I love you, and you will be in all of our hearts forever. I aspire to even slightly emulate the best of you, and hope to make you proud by following your legacy of love and giving.

For formalities sake I must say, Susan Shuffler was survived by her two children, Kenneth and Susanna Shuffler, her two grandchildren, Maya and Niko Gawande, her two sisters Patricia and Rebecca Hooley, and her niece Elise Kidwell. She was preceded in death by her mother and father, Mari and Edward Hooley, her sister C. Michele Hooley, her husband Royce Simmons, and her sweet and too young nephew Patrick Collin Kidwell.

Your song may be over,

But your tune will forever be a melody in my heart.