Susan D Payson

Susanna Landor Divinagracia Payson, known as Susan, Susie, or “Suz” to friends and family, whose house was always open and which no one ever left hungry, died peacefully February 2, 2017 after a long illness at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough. She was 81 years old.

Susan was born August 11, 1935 in Cebu City on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. She was the second of four children born to Teresa and Juan Divinagracia. Among her early experiences was enduring the occupation of the Philippines by imperial Japan during World War II. She was educated at the University of Manila before being employed at the former US Navy Base at Subic Bay. It was there that she met the love of her life, Albion L. Payson (Al), formerly of Yarmouth, while on a blind date. The two were married in March 1962 and shortly afterwards moved to the United States. They lived briefly in California and Washington where she played the role of a Navy wife before moving across the country to Maine, where she saw snow for the first time in her life and over the course of seven years became a mother of three children.

The family moved from Maine to Pennsylvania and then to New York, where Susan was employed first by Finkelstein Memorial Library, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, and in a variety of capacities at Rockland Community College. She served as PTA president at Colton Elementary School, and was a very involved parishioner at St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Spring Valley, NY. When Susan and Al retired in 1997, they returned to Yarmouth and were active members of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church and the Filipino-American Society. They also enjoyed traveling, visiting Hawaii and Alaska, and Susan finally returned to the Philippines for the first time since her wedding 35 years earlier. They also made regular road trips to visit friends and their children’s families.

She was known for her outgoing personality, her skills as a hostess and for her talent as a cook. In Yarmouth, she was well remembered for annual Chinese New Year parties while living at North Yarmouth Academy. Later in her life she taught Chinese and other Asian cooking for many years. Susan was generous and hospitable to friends and strangers alike, and especially to family members in need. She loved funny anecdotes and jokes of all kinds, and most of all was a protective and supportive wife, mother and grandmother. She retained these attributes even after battling breast cancer and suffering two separate strokes.

Susan and Al were married 49 years until his death in 2011. She is survived by her two sons, Albion Little II of Congers, NY, Benjamin Nicholas of Williamsburg, VA, and her daughter Teresa Landor of Bartlett, IL. She had five grandchildren and dozens of nieces and nephews in the Philippines as well as the United States.

The family requests that there will be no public visiting hours. Following cremation, a memorial service will be held March 2, 2017 at 1:00 pm at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Gilman Road in Yarmouth. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Bartholomew’s. Condolences to the family may be made through the funeral home website at: www.lindquistfuneralhome.com.