Remembering Suzanne

Remembering Suzanne

One of the morbid conversations we have online, those of us who have enough of a life that’s lived digitally to wonder these things: what would happen if we died suddenly? Who would make sure that our friends online find out about it? Would they imagine that we just stopped logging on, or blocked them on AIM, or just got too busy to check in? Would they ever know that we didn’t mean to just disappear?

Well, tonight I found out how it goes, or got a taste of it, at least. A wonderful woman I never met in person but felt close to all the same died last week, and I found out about it today through a strange collusion of real life and digital networks. The world really isn’t that big after all; even if you don’t set it up that way on purpose, it seems that news can still travel pretty fast.

Suzanne Klerks was one of the warmest, most intelligent and witty women I ever knew. She was a fascinating, multi-faceted academic, exactly the type I love most. I’m just devastated that someone so vibrant with so much to give the world is gone. And in the horrible unfairness of it, I’m also glad that I got the time that I had with her. She was an amazing person, I was challenged and touched by her writing over the last few years, and I’m going to miss her so much.

Godspeed, Suzanne.

0 thoughts on “Remembering Suzanne

  1. Dear Rochelle,
    I am Suzanne’s mother. Suzanne would love to have read your comments!
    I have been with her for about 10 mos{live in Montreal}
    I have a practical problem..Suz has an extensive library of primarily medieval literature and I don’t want it destroyed. Have contacted her school re a donation but doubt they will want it all{hopefully some.Have you any ideas what I can do.
    We are also constrained by time.
    She was a beautiful ,brave girl and I value the time sppent with her these last months as our relatioship was nourished in spite of her devestating disease.
    elisabeth.

  2. Thank you so much for reading my post about Suzanne; I’m happy to say that she knew exactly what she meant to me, and wouldn’t even be a little surprised by my post!

    We’ll be in touch over email, but rest assured I will work with the librarians at her school and abroad to make sure that her collection is distributed to people who will cherish it.

  3. I used to be a student of Suzanne’s. I just found out yesterday that she died. All of us at UCFV are thinking of her. I know that there are many of her old students who are devestated, and I can’t tell you how many times in the last few monthes I’ve heard people asking when she’ll be back. She was an unbeleivably inspiring teacher, and she is greatly missed.

Leave a Reply to Elisabeth Klerks Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.