Sue grew up in central California. She spent most of her adult life working in L’Arche, an international network of communities for adults with and without intellectual disabilities, sharing life together. Sue worked at times as an assistant, directly supporting people with intellectual disabilities—at times as a community leader—and she had many other roles in between. She had been a member of the L’Arche Tahoma Hope community in Tacoma, Washington, USA, since 1990.

Here are Sue’s own words about her L’Arche experience, as she told them to many volunteer groups of high school and college students when they arrived in the community:

For Sue, L’Arche was where the Beatitudes truly made sense. She was disillusioned in the late 60s and early 70s mostly by the Vietnam War. San Francisco was not an easy place to live or to attend college in those years. For a while, life did not make sense. She joined a volunteer group in northern British Columbia working alongside the indigenous population and became disillusioned while there. Finally, she made a retreat in 1974 followed by 3 months in Edmonton L’Arche. This, she says, is “where I fell in love.” She discovered the privilege it was to do the laundry, cook, and clean. She soon realized she was receiving so much: acceptance, love, forgiveness, belonging, welcome, and more.   

She returned to California to go back to school and begin nursing. But doors began to close. She didn’t get into the school she wanted. First, she had to go to a different school to take some extra classes. Out of the blue, she received a post card from a Trappist monk she knew. On it he had written “Peace follows decisions, it is time to face what you are running from.” The next night on her way to class, she burst into tears, pulled over to the side of the road and told God, “Yes.” She would go to Seattle to a community that was just starting with the hope of becoming L’Arche. She decided to stay for a year followed by three months in Europe visiting and traveling. After her travels, she returned to Seattle, still planning to leave, when she was asked to be the new community leader. 

The board asked if she would be open to put in the structures needed for Seattle to join the Federation of L’Arche. She thought that might take a year or two and then she would leave and return to school. She wanted Seattle to be part of L’Arche so that it would be more than just a group home. The core members and assistants would then belong to an international federation of L’Arche communities.  What she didn’t realize was that once they were welcomed into the Federation of L’Arche, she would find that she, too, belonged.  She ended up in Seattle for nine years. The last year there, she spent some time praying and realized that she was not called to go back to school, but to be with other L’Arche communities around the world. She spent 10 months in L’Arche in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic in a large barrio followed by a month in Haiti and Honduras before spending a year at the first L’Arche community in Trosly, France. 

In 1990, she was invited to L’Arche Tahoma Hope to start a workshop program, providing meaningful days for community members. The workshop participants made arts and crafts, as well as going on many field trips for fun times around town. Eventually, she became the Volunteer Coordinator for the community. She remained at L’Arche Tahoma Hope until her death.

Sue always ended her story by saying this:

“Through these many years, I have learned that you are not free to stay unless you are also free to go. God continually calls us deeper into relationships of vulnerability, openness, trust, and love. I truly believe that my invitation today is to put into action what flows from ‘the love of a heart that knows it is loved.’”