Barbara O'Leary

Barbara Susan O'Leary

Resident of Cupertino

Sept. 16, 1941 - Nov. 6, 2010

Sue passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by family after a tough battle against brain cancer.

Sue was born in Long Beach, California and moved to Altadena CA in 1949. She graduated from John Muir High School in 1959, then attended UC Santa Barbara and graduated in 1963.

Sue had a love of travel and went to work with TWA as a flight attendant in the early sixties. She assisted in the management of two O'Leary family-owned restaurants through the seventies. In the early eighties, Sue and Fred settled in Cupertino where she began working in the packaging industry and continued as a salesperson until retiring in 2009 after an almost 3 decade-long career. In 2003 she was elected as woman of the year by the American Business Women's Association and served as Chapter President. She volunteered for the Career Closet, providing professional clothing to aspiring business women determined to launch new careers in spite of economic challenges.

It was while visiting San Francisco on the way to flight attendant training in Kanas City that a mutual friend introduced her to her Freddie. Their first date was to a hockey game and then romantic dining on peanut butter and bacon sandwiches on the roof top over looking the lights of San Francisco. The rest is history. Sue and Freddie married in 1964. They sold all their worldly possession in 1967 in order to travel through Europe. They bought a VW Camper in Munich, traveled for a year, and then returned again to Europe in 1969. Throughout Sue's life, she and Freddie loved to travel. They made multiple trips throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and North America. She was present at both grandchildren's births, first in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then in Portland, OR.

Sue was preceded in death by her father, Arnold Ames, mother, Deirdre Ames. She is survived by her loving husband Fred, her son Colin from San Francisco, her daughter Meighan and son-in-law, Ian from Portland, sister Judy, from Redondo Beach, CA, sister, Muriel, from Ashland, OR, several nieces and nephews, and her true darlings, grandchildren Alex and Georgia. She will be remembered by her hundreds of friends that stretched from around the world back to her own neighborhood.

Sue was kind, loving, always cheerful, generous, a good friend, mother, wife and sister. To have her taken from us at such a young age is a tragedy yet in spite of it, she maintained her grace, dignity and sense of humor to the end. She will be remembered and missed by all. Donations can be made on Sue's behalf to the National Brain Tumor Society.