CHWI o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-02 published
Susan WESTMORELAND
By Anria LOUBSER,
Wednesday,
July 2, 2002 - page A18
Wife, mother, friend, reporter.
Born August 5, 1965, in Hamilton, Ontario Died April 28 in Hamilton,
of breast cancer, aged 59.
Bright, wacky, fun-loving and fiery of temperament, Susan Westmoreland
brought abundant energy to everything she did and could put a
positive, often humorous, spin on just about anything. Even cancer.
"Pick up some lottery tickets, sweetie - we lost the cancer lottery
and someone owes us big time!" (Don't think she was flippant.
She was plucky and very determined to have a good time.)
Sue was 5-foot-8 but, through a combination of heels and personality,
seemed six feet tall.
Her intelligence, sociability, sharp wit and palpable integrity
could make her seem intimidating at first. She was competitive
in the best sense of the word and didn't readily cut slack for
herself or others. Still, those close to her got to hear and
see the doubts, fears and vulnerabilities that made her adorable.
Friends and family (both human and furry) were at the heart of
Sue's world.
She loved the ritual of getting together and had a way of making
moments memorable by doing something special, creating a tradition
or saving a memento. Sue was a devoted, attentive friend; she
gave the best of her enthusiasm to others.
Sue brought all her gifts for Friendship to bear in her marriage
to Jon MAGIDSOHN.
Whether you knew them as "SueandJon" or "JonandSue," you knew
they shared many interests and had a deep love for and loyalty
to one another, but always with an awareness of and deference
to each other's autonomy.
Sue had a very deliberate way of envisioning, planning and making
everything and anything happen, from decorating her home to a
radical career change.
Vision and ambition drove Sue to find work that she loved. After
a degree in political science, a year in France, four years working
on Parliament Hill and four as an actor, Sue undertook the broadcast
journalism program at Ryerson University, graduating with honours
in 1998.
Susan was a born video-journalist. Every aspect of the job drew
on her strengths and challenged her to use them in new ways.
In 1999, she and Jon moved to Windsor, Ontario, where she had
landed a television-news reporter job at
CHWI.
She was exhilarated
by the demands of her job and became involved in the community.
Devoted to family and Friends in the Toronto area and missing
the big city life, Sue and Jon moved back to Toronto in January,
2002, when Sue was hired as an arts reporter for Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation Radio.
Sue was almost defiant in the face of the diagnosis she was given
a year ago. She was four months pregnant. After agonizing deliberation,
she and Jon chose to have a course of chemotherapy that was.
as far as research could attest, safe for pregnant women. It
was very, very difficult for her to go for those treatments,
but she went and Jon read her Dr. Seuss and The Stinky Cheese
Man while the intravenous dripped. Sue took a leave from work,
kept up her social calendar and enjoyed the nesting phase of
expectant parenthood. She had a vision of her and Jon's life
as parents and kept her eyes resolutely "on the prize."
Sue gave birth to Myles Day on Oct.16, 2002, and declared (with
gusto) that she was taking a little holiday from cancer. Then,
later, her voice cracked as she talked about just wanting to
be a healthy mom. The commonplace feelings of self-doubt and
anxiety experienced by new parents were painfully magnified for
her.
Sue was admitted to hospital April 24; as the pain ebbed away,
her tenacity finally did, too. Her sparkly aura and mega-watt
smile are indelibly in our hearts.
Anna is a friend of Sue. Jon
MAGISDSOHN,
Sue's husband, contributed
to this essay.
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