Susan Brown Nash, a longtime resident of Rye, N. Y., passed away on September 25, 2023, surrounded by loving family, a few weeks after her 89th birthday.
Born in Chicago, she was raised in Winnetka, Illinois. She received a B.A. In English from Smith College and an M.A. in English from New York University.
She worked in book and magazine publishing in Boston and New York City before moving, in 1966, to Rye, where she became a self-described “professional volunteer” at her children’s schools; sang for many joyful years with the Christ’s Church Choir and Madrigal Singers; and served with the Twig organization. She received the Reggie Klein Award for service to the community. For many years, she was on the board of the Edith Read Wildlife Sanctuary, where she helped create the memorial to its founder and served as secretary.
“Our mother loved living in Rye and cherished her 40 years residing on Centre Street,” said her children.
A lover of the arts, she had season tickets to the ballet for many years, frequented the latest Broadway shows, filled her walls with paintings and prints, and collected music of all genres, particularly popular songs from her childhood and the classical/liturgical music she sang in her early life and with the Smith College Chamber Singers. She also loved nature and gardening; she kept her flowers flourishing without pesticides, and her yard on Centre Street became a refuge for the neighborhood wildlife.
Above all, Sue Nash was a lifelong reader, writer, and deep thinker, and after health problems limited her mobility, she continued to thrive through devotion to record-keeping, reading, and writing right up to her death. Her correspondence with friends and relatives via the U.S. Postal Service was a lifelong passion. She was rarely seen without a book, newspaper, or pen in her hand.
A true friend to many, she will be missed by them and her family, all of whom were precious to her.
She is survived by her two children, Jim Nash and his wife Becky Kinal of Port Chester, and Emily Zentz and her husband Geoff of Steuben, Maine; grandchildren Percy and Lanny Zentz; and many nieces and nephews and descendants of her departed sister, Nancy Armstrong.
Donations in Susan Nash’s memory can be made to the Smith College Scholarship Aid Fund, the American Cancer Society, or the Wildlife Conservation Society. A memorial service will be held at Christ’s Church Rye on Saturday, October 28 at 11 a.m.
