Susan K. Currie

Susan K. Currie
June 16, 1947 - Jan. 5, 2014
Resident of La Quinta, Calif.
STANFORD, Calif. , Jan. 9, 2014 … Susan Kay Currie was a selfless and caring person who always put herself second to the needs and desires of others. She died Sunday at age 66 of complications following heart surgery with her husband of 40 years, Brian, and her daughter, Kia Sullivan, at her side.
Mrs. Currie, born in Waterloo, Iowa, daughter of Leo and Virginia Quinn, was an 18-year breast cancer survivor and a world-class philanthropist and charitable fundraiser. She was the consummate organizer leaving nothing to chance whether it was a golf tournament or a travel vacation. She even left detailed instructions for the music to be played at her own funeral service. The service will be at 3:30p.m. Tuesday (January 14) at St. Simon Catholic Parish, 1860 Grant Road, Los Altos. (A celebration of her life will be held at 2p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Rancho La Quinta Country Club, in La Quinta, Calif.)
Susan and Brian Currie met at Motorola Semiconductor in Mesa, Ariz., in 1973. They married the following year and soon moved with their daughter, Kia, to California. In 1976 Brian joined Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in Los Angeles. The family then moved to Chicago and in 1982 to Los Altos Hills for a 30-year sojourn. Following 10 years with AMD the Curries founded and operated a sales representative organization (Phase II) for 12 years before retiring to the Southern California desert.
In 1985 Ms. Currie joined the founding group of the Silicon Valley Charity Ball. In its 10-year run, the event raised some $5 million to support area causes and nonprofit groups. At meetings where the funds were allocated, Mrs. Currie was often "reduced to tears" at the dire needs of the individual charities, remembered Paulette Beemiller, a longtime friend who termed Mrs. Currie "the kindest woman I've ever known." Her husband, Gerry Beemiller, the president of the Ball, noted that "Susan was the organization" and that she did 90 percent of the work - "I got the glory; she quietly did all the work."
The year before she tested positive for breast cancer, 1995, she was named the outstanding volunteer of the year by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives for her work with the Charity Ball and other leadership roles including Peninsula Volunteers, Catholic Charities, Los Altos Newcomers as well as the Ronald McDonald house at Stanford.
Mrs. Currie is remembered as being a great outdoors person and an ardent athlete - as a youngster she once bowled a game of 299. When she was 40 - the same year she received a degree in business with honors from San Jose State University - she ran the Los Angeles Marathon. She stood 5-foot-three and weighed about 120 pounds. "Not big but damned spunky," said Gerry Beemiller. "She did the Black Diamond ski runs with the boys and didn't wimp out for the Bunny Runs." Her favorite sport was golf. Vicki Hammer, who played golf with her in Bigfork, Montana, where the Curries have a summer home, noted that "golf was a challenge and a struggle - But she loved the game never the less."
Not to be stopped by breast cancer or the associated bone marrow transplant, in 2000 she and Brian completed the 60-mile Avon Cancer Walk from San Jose to San Francisco. She was one of seven people selected to lead the march. She raised more than $50,000 for the event. "She didn't let her health problems stop her from anything," said Ms. Hammer. "She knew her time on this Earth was going to be shorter than most of her friends and she had a lot to do. She helped so many people and touched so many lives," Ms. Hammer noted.
In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Currie is survived by her grandchildren, Bryn Hana and Kobe Quinn Sullivan and a brother, David Quinn of Phoenix. Donations, in lieu of flowers, should be sent to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University or the charity of one's choice.
Funeral arrangements were made by Spangler Mortuaries of Los Altos. For additional information about Ms. Currie contact: www.spanglermortuary.com.

www.spanglermortuary.com