by Tree Hershberger

“Hey! Just got in that package of merchandise this morning. Yup at 3:25am in the form of a one Susan Ann Hudacek. And all of 7lbs 6ozs worth. How do you like that? Happy? Yes indeed.” This is from a letter of a very proud new father to his friend on the day that Sue was born.

Sue was the eldest of 5 children born to John and Marjorie Hudacek. She spoke often of the many unique aspects of growing up without having much, among the rice patties of Willows California, as well as the gift of having such faithful, hardworking, creative and talented parents. She proudly shared about each of her siblings and the uniqueness of their gifts and paths they chose in their lives. And my goodness how she RAVED about her nieces and nephews and the fun she had with them.

Sue and I were not family, technically. We first connected when she was interviewing Lutheran Volunteers for the role she supervised at Noah’s Workshop at L’Arche Tahoma Hope. Over that phone call we connected on a spiritual level, of course. It was the first of many times over the next 16 years that we would choose each other, transform each other’s lives, and thus become a special kind of chosen family. I am deeply honored to have gotten to spend the last 3 years living with Sue, to have been her person, and to get the privilege of standing in this spot today. 

Sue did not choose an ordinary life. In her search for closeness with God, she followed her call way beyond her comfort and beyond what she could have alone imagined for her life. This led her from a time of disillusionment when she worked for a bank in San Francisco to volunteering for the native population of rural northern Alaska and then to nearly 5 decades of sharing life with people with disabilities in L’Arche all over the world. Every step of the way, searching for deeper communion with God. She chose the road less traveled over and over again, because it was on that road she found very good company. (All of you.)

When I was talking with Nancy Tyson, a core member who lived with Sue at Farmhouse for 10 years, I asked, “What do you think was most important to Sue in her life? She answered, “Love/Being nice, Stories, and Chaos.” I’m interpreting chaos as Sue’s sense of adventure. But anyone who’s ever lived at FH for 10 years has to love a little chaos, right Nancy?

Sense of Adventure

Sue learned her sense of adventure at a very young age, road tripping regularly from California to Michigan where her father’s family lived—often sleeping in the back of the station wagon on the way. From road trips in the US to galavanting around Europe with her sisters (Paris being a particular favorite) to traveling the Holy Land with Father Jimmy and George Strohmeyer…Sue had a love of exploring the world and a curiosity for why things are the way they are. As travel got harder, Sue still loved spending a couple days at the waterfront with Sharilynn or taking Stacie up to Port Townsend for a getaway during covid days. 

Love/Being Nice

Sue’s value of “love/being nice” as Nancy said, grew from her deep spirituality. She had an eye for beauty and skill at creating it: from the dahlias she grew and nurtured to the earrings she made; the pottery she formed; and the fabrics she wove. She saw beauty and creating beauty as a natural part of her spirituality. 

Sue journeyed through life desiring to grow closer to God and had an awareness of her own depth of spirit, which helped her walk with others in a very humble way as they explored their own journeys in growing closer to God. In fact, I imagine many of us here today are here in part because of the deeply present, humble, and grace-filled ways Sue walked with us in our lives. Sue was deeply transformed through her time in a program called Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life (SEEL) and in her time with the Street Psalms community. 

Sue says that when she first made the SEEL retreat in 1985, it gave her purpose and direction—inspiring her to become a spiritual director and commit to walk through the exercises with others for decades after. Through weekly reflection gatherings at Street Psalms with L’Arche core member Ricky, Sue’s gift for walking with people and sharing God’s grace-filled love could not go unnoticed and she was eventually ordained as a Street Psalms minister, joining an international group of people earnestly seeking Christ and intentionally supporting others to do the same. 

Sue was fascinated by the Inukshuk—the rocky cairn (stone monument), found on the shores of the Georgian Bay. Such sculptures dot the Arctic landscape and serve as navigational guides for people traveling through one of the world’s most desolate landscapes. For centuries, these solid guardians have kept vigil over the land and, like lighthouses in an icy desert; they remain a powerful symbol of safe harbor in an uncertain world. They offer reassurance that those traveling in the desolate place have not lost the trail. 

In some of my harder days, Sue was this for me…a safe harbor and reminder that I was not lost, just on the journey. 

Stories

Sue loved stories and was SO good at telling stories. She was a keeper of not only her own stories but everyone she came across. 

In the last month, I’ve wished she would have compiled her stories because they were adventures worth sharing. Stories like the time she was in San Francisco working as an usher and unknowingly met Neil Diamond, or the time Harry Belafonte kissed her cheek, or the time homemade rootbeer exploded all over the farmhouse dining room, or the time Nancy laughed so hard in a recliner that she tipped it over backwards. 

EVERY time Sue and I watched Hamilton together, she would start to weep when “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” ended the musical. I believe that for a woman so gifted at carrying the tales of those she cared for, she also questioned “Who will tell my story?”

All of us gathered here hold her story. Her story is woven into ours and ours are all woven together because of her. For all of that I am incredibly grateful.

I’d like to end with her words that are on the front of the program.