“Whenever Susan wants to sail she lets me know, “ said Tim Spain, shown here with Susan on one of their outings.
During our fi rst sailing trip, Alexandra told
Susan that she didn’t know anything about
sailing. Susan just smiled and told her that
she would teach Alex how to sail – and that
is exactly what she did. Susan knows a lot
about sailing, and she knows how to make
each trip interesting. She taught Alexandra
how to use the small pieces of yarn on the
sails as a guide to tell you how much sail you
want to let out, based on the direction of the
wind and the boat (the yarn is called a
“tell-tail”).
Alexandra and I became fast friends with
Susan, and she even pushed us to sail more
than I wanted to. I’m glad she did, because
I enjoyed our sails and the conversations
during and after sailing. They usually
involved something to eat and a glass of
sparkling water with a piece of lime.
When Mr. Johnson called and told me
about Susan, he said she was a famous
photographer from the 1960, 70s and
beyond. He alluded to the fact that her
business card has a photo from the set of
Easy Rider, in a graveyard in New Orleans.
I did a little research on Susan, and it seems
that each of her years of life have been
lived well and defi antly. She is a product
of the public education system in New
York City, and of Sarah Lawrence College,
where she got her bachelor’s degree. Her
graduate work was done at Yale University
School of Art and Architecture. Susan
also is an accomplished journalist, and is
a founding member of Women’s Forum.
Her investigative reporting on a story she
dubbed “Dr. Feelgood” was so well written,
it made the cover of the New York Magazine
in 1971.
Her reporting ultimately led to the arrest
and conviction of a New York doctor who
was up to no good. Throughout the 1970s
and 80s her editorials could be seen in
several national magazines.
When I fi rst walked into her house in Boca
Grande, I saw the same photo from the back
of her business card that Mr. Johnson told
me about. In the photo is Dennis Hopper
and Peter Fonda with a couple of other
extras. That photo says it all. Fonda has an