SUSANNAH S. ELDRIDGE

Susannah S. Eldridge, of Guilford, died on Friday, July 28, at the age of 75. Susannah retired several years ago from teaching at The Children's Preschool in New Haven, where she drew on her love of children and families and her deep understanding of child development. Previously she had taught at the Yale Divinity Nursery School and directed Leila Day, a preschool also located in New Haven. Before coming to New Haven from Philadelphia, Susannah was co-director, with Kyong Lischner, of Hall Mercer Hospital's Center for Children and Families, an innovative program to support parents with young children at risk. Susannah (or Sukey, as her family and childhood friends knew her) was a voracious reader and an enthusiastic traveler and was a loving family member and friend. She will long be remembered for her sweet kindness, her love of theater, her wonderful sense of humor and skill as a joke and story teller, for her abhorrence of unfairness and cruelty, her passionate engagement with life. Susannah Stone Eldridge grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY, where her father taught at Vassar College and her mother taught at the Poughkeepsie Day School, which she and her sisters attended. After graduation from Oakwood, a Quaker secondary school, Susannah went to Swarthmore College, graduating in 1963. She also held a master's degree in Early Childhood Education. Susannah was predeceased by her parents, L. Joseph and Beatrice Berlin Stone, by her husband, Donald (Duck) Daley, by her younger sister, Miriam (Midge) Leavitt, and by her stepmother, Jeannette Galambos Stone. She is survived and lovingly remembered by her older sister, Deborah Stone, by Deborah's son, her nephew, Erik N. Nelson, and her nieces, Sarah Leavitt and Hannah Davidson, and their father, Robert Leavitt, as well as by Sarah's partner, Donimo, and Hannah's husband, Jordan Davidson, and their sons, Zev and Eli. Susannah is also survived by her beloved stepchildren, Michael Daley and Catya von Karolyi, and step granddaughters, Ilona and Karina, and by her stepsisters Joan, Kate, and Ann. Surviving also are Susannah's former husband, Maurice Eldridge, and brother-in-law Theodor Holm Nelson and his wife, Lauren Sarno, many bereft and loving cousins and friends. Contributions in Susannah's honor may be made to Amnesty International or American Friends Service Committee. A memorial is planned for a later date. Arrangements in care of the Guilford Funeral Home, 115 Church St, Guilford. To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit: www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com