Susannah Baca

Susannah “Sue” Williamson was born in Milan, Georgia to Howard and Mary Lou Williamson. That area of the country did not yet have electricity or indoor plumbing. Her father owned a paper mill. He died of a stroke when young ‘Susie’ was just three years old. Her mother was swindled out of the mill, and life was difficult for the remainder of Sue’s childhood. Her mother remarried, and the Great Depression hit the family hard. She had a memory of the whole family (mother, stepfather, 7 siblings) walking down the street with all the possessions they could carry, after losing their home. They found an abandoned house, and stayed there until her stepfather found a job. She never forgot what it was like to be poor.

When she was 17, her mother died of stomach cancer. At that point, Susie took on the responsibility to keep family together.

She and her sister Annie moved to Silver Spring, MD. She obtained employment as a waitress. The USA got into World War 2 a year later. Her first fiancée, David, enlisted in the Canadian Air Force, after the US Army Air Force rejected him. He was killed in action on his first mission.

In 1943 , she married Clarence Wright. They had two daughters together, Charlotte and Sherry. They divorced in 1954.

In 1954, she met Arthur Baca. They married in 1956. They moved the family from Maryland to Ontario, California, as Arthur landed a job with General Dynamics. They had a son they named Rex.

After Rex started elementary school, Sue went back to work, landing a job at a high-class restaurant called Orlando’s, in Pomona, CA. She put her heart into everything she did, even waitressing. She actually out-earned her aerospace engineer husband with the tips she got working at Orlando’s.

The family moved a couple of times. 1967-68, they moved to Bedford, MA for a year. Then back to their home in Ontario, CA. In 1971, they moved to Gig Harbor, WA for six years. From there, they migrated to Bonita, CA in 1977, where they settled down for the rest of their lives.

In 1975, Sue was diagnosed with Afib. The doctor gave her about 6 years to live. Fortunately she didn’t believe everything she heard, and lived 43 more years.

Another doctor told her in the 1980s that in order to stay healthy, she needed something to keep her active and motivated. Her nephew, Tom Atkins, gave her two Cockatiels he was given but didn’t want, named Killer and Angel. Thus began her time as Bird Savior. People would bring her birds they couldn’t keep, including flocks of Cockatiels, Love Birds, Zebra Finches, and five Parrots and a Conure. Around this time she became a volunteer for Project Wildlife, where she raised abandoned baby birds. She had the best survival record of anyone when it came to Killdeer. She saved countless hundreds of bird lives during this time of her life.

She also loved gardening, growing many species of flowering plants, as well as fruit trees.

Sue is survived by her daughter, Charlotte Wright, son Rex Baca, granddaughter Laura Russell, grandsons Jeffery Jones and James Leonard Guthrie, five great-grandchildren, and several great-great-grandchildren, as well as cousins, nieces and nephews and their offspring. Her daughter, Sherry, died in 2003, but her husband Jim Miller is still a part of the family.

Everyone who got to know Sue loved her. She was a very giving and compassionate individual. She made everyone feel special. She had a sharp mind, and was born with more commonsense than most people. She also had a great sense of humor, and an outstanding memory. Family came first for her, and everyone she met she treated like family. She was the cornerstone of the family and will be greatly missed, but forever in our hearts.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Project Wildlife.