Suzanne W. Mcdonald

Suzanne Ruth Williams McDonald: artist, musician, teacher, business owner, mother, passed away on April 17, 2021. She was born in Utica, NY on February 17, 1932 to Lillian Hazlitt Williams and Harry Meyn Williams. Like those in her family, she showed an early musical talent as a singer and piano player. While she was admitted to Westminster Choir College, the money to attend wasn’t available, so instead she attended Alfred University to study ceramics for two years before marrying James McDonald on June 27, 1953.

The two and their ever-growing family settled in Hamilton, NY where Suzanne was selected to play the female soprano lead in one Gilbert and Sullivan operetta after another: “The Gondoliers,” “Trial by Jury,” “The Mikado,” “Patience,” and others, and was the soloist in numerous community chorus productions, many times in various stages of pregnancy.

After producing six children, Suzanne returned to college at Utica College when her youngest was three years old. She earned a bachelor’s degree Magna Cum Laude then a Master of Arts in Teaching Summa Cum Laude as one of only a few women admitted to Colgate University. She subsequently went on to teach 8th grade English at Sherburne-Earlville Central School, where she first dipped her toe in play direction, with the middle school production of “Boys and Ghouls Together.”

Operettas soon gave way to musical theater, and Suzanne’s first community theater directing foray was a triumphant production of “Guys and Dolls.” Her children fondly remember their mother’s obsessive attention to each and every detail of the show, right down to the garden tools, props for “A Bushel and a Peck,” taken out of the McDonald garage and painted by Suzanne with neon pink, yellow, and green. She directed and performed in other community shows too numerous to name.

In the late-70s, “Second Gear Exchange,” a popular second-hand store in Hamilton came up for sale, and Suzanne bought it and started a second act as a business owner. She successfully ran the store for many years, delighting in attending auctions to find treasures to sell at the store. She particularly loved buying boxes full of unseen items for cheap and selling whatever was inside for a tidy profit.

After her divorce, Suzanne started her third act as a college teacher in Bradenton Fl, where she lived for a few years before returning to Hamilton and taking a job at Morrisville College, teaching composition and literature for several years.

Suzanne was the organist and choir director at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Hamilton for decades. Her children and many Hamiltonians fondly remember the thoughtful and beautiful Christmas Midnight Mass music Suzanne created. In the 70s she taught herself to play to guitar in response to the transition to folk music the Catholic Church experienced at that time. She brought her guitar with her on family camping trips, and along with “The Fireside Book of Children’s Songs” songbook, Suzanne created her children’s happiest memories of singing silly songs by the fire in the Adirondack woods.

At various times in her life she was a writer, piano teacher, a painter, a bread-maker, a poet, a playwright, a knitter, a collector of beaded purses and depression glass, and a soap maker. It seemed that anything Suzanne put her mind to she could do. A more accomplished individual you will never meet.

Suzanne is survived by her children; Marianne Thompson of Rochester, NY. James McDonald of Knightdale, NC. Margaret (Thomas) Pulcher of Amarillo, TX. Sheila (Robert) Reakes of Ithaca, NY. David (Pamela Bodner) McDonald of Oneida, NY. Also, by five grandchildren, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her daughter Catherine, her brothers Warren and Paul and their wives, and her former husband James.