Sue Avery Obituary

Rick Rick Isaacs '63 said:

Suzanne Gail Avery, of Durham, North Carolina passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. The cruelty of cancer brought a swift end to the loving life of an enormous heart, a heart that always put the needs of the world before her own. Sue was surrounded in her final days around the clock by friends and family who wanted one last opportunity to return the favor. Sue was born on January 08, 1946 to Elroy and Lois Avery in Buffalo, New York. She experienced an extremely happy childhood growing up in Williamsville. Sue recognized early in her life that she would travel a path of service, choosing to dedicate herself to the needs of others. That wondrous path began at the Buffalo General School of Nursing and the State University of New York at Buffalo where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. Capitalizing on being named the top nurse in her class, Sue began her incredible career at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York City, where she was a savvy young Intensive Care Unit Nurse. Ultimately, she rose to head staff nurse, a position she held for almost four years before leaving New York to relocate in Durham, North Carolina. It was in 1977 that she began her distinguished career at Duke University Health System working at Duke Hospital. During her nearly forty year career at Duke, she continued her life's goal of serving others, ultimately transitioning her nursing role to that of Clinical & Translational Science Institute of Research and Education, along the way obtaining her Master of Science in Nursing from Duke University. A career in service to others would be enough for many, but not for Sue. Sue was a caregiver and she did not know how to be anything else. In the early 80's, Sue was a pioneer in championing the rights of the LGBT community. She was actively involved in the NC Lesbian and Gay Health Project. At a time when the AIDS crisis marginalized the gay community, Sue embraced them with courage and conviction. She provided education, she provided clinical support and most of all she provided a loving heart to people that needed it most. That loving heart never seemed larger or beat stronger than it did for her family. Her parents and her sister, Janice Roe, predecease Sue. Her only daughter, Amity Avery Crowther, Amity’s husband Michael Ferguson, their beautiful daughters Ellery (12) and Baker (10) Ferguson, her nephew William M. Warren II, and her persnickety cat, Emily, survive Sue. Throughout her life, Sue taught her daughter to love unequivocally, to live fiercely, and to never let the world tell you what to think or how to feel. Clearly, her two greatest treasures in life were her granddaughters. There has never been a grandmother who doted more or prepared more for their visits and encounters. Sue was famous for gifts. Thoughtful and creative, she always outshined the rest of the room on Christmas morning. No one wrote camp letters to the girls better than Sue did, and no one ever will. Sue died on the first day of spring, forevermore; the birds will chirp and sing a song telling the world about this amazing woman, beloved mother, grandmother and friend. As is a tale, so is a life-not how long that life may be but rather how well that life was lived.