Susanne Marie Dennison

Susanne Marie Ralston Dennison was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 18, 1941. She was one of 5 children born to Ruth and Leonard Ralston. Her family relocated to Washington, DC in her youth for her father to accept an appointment as an administrative law judge, a position which he held until his retirement on June 28, 1974. Neither Susanne nor any of her siblings ever left - they LOVED Washington, DC, and they loved being near their parents and each other. Susanne attended junior college at Georgetown Visitation (which closed the junior college in 1964) and began work at the International Monetary Fund. After several years of exciting globetrotting, she met a young British immigrant named Alexander Michael Dennison (“Michael”). They married on July 11, 1970, and remain married to this day. Susanne gave birth to her daughter, Carla (Henneberry), on July 2, 1972, and her son, Sean, on January 29, 1974. Susanne then made a career change into a full-time mother, chauffeur, nurse and tutor. Before returning to work later in life, Susanne adopted many habits and beliefs; among them were writing calligraphy, singing and dancing (this continued in perpetuity) and her everlasting commitment to God. If Susanne’s Catholic faith didn’t define her, perhaps it helped to explain her. She understood that no religion, like no person, is perfect and she accepted her religion into every facet of her life and was able to believe that, no matter how bleak life became, it would have been worse but for her faith. Through both her Church and her children, Susanne made many lifelong friends – some of whom she now joins in heaven as they prepare the stage for those left on earth. She also forged special bonds with her son-in-law, Ted Henneberry, and her daughter-in-law, Conni Dennison, both of whom felt like they had lucked into the right family.

On October 2, 2004, Susanne’s first grandchild, Tim Henneberry, was born and she began a new phase as a grandmother, and one that few people were as ably suited to. She leaves behind six grandchildren – Tim, Brendan, Caroline, Colin, Billy and Alex – each of whom she was able to make feel that they were her favorite. Because they each were.

On February 3, 2015, Michael passed suddenly, leaving Susanne alone for the very first time in her life. Except that, even in widowhood, Susanne was never really by herself. She strengthened all of her relationships with friends and family, dived into a variety of exercise classes and remained devoted to her faith. It was also around this time that she began to experience various physical maladies, many of which were not dissimilar to those that beset her own mother. She soldiered on and was able to forge a permanent memory with everyone who knew her and, most importantly, for each of her beloved grandchildren. On April 8, 2025, she said goodbye to this world and moved fulltime into heaven. We are each lucky to have known her in the 83 years she spent in some portion of our lives.

Funeral services will be held at the Church of the Little Flower at 5607 Massachusetts Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. The services will be followed immediately by a reception at the Columbia Country Club from 1:30 – 4:00 PM. Both the services and the reception are intended to be celebratory, so please dress comfortably – she always did.