Suzanne Summerville

Dr. Suzanne Summerville, 83, died Wednesday, March 17, 2021, in Edison, New Jersey, surrounded by the love of her family.

Private services were held for the family at Kowalski Funeral Home in Linden, New Jersey. A Tribute Wall is located on their website.

A celebration of the life of Suzanne Summerville will be held on Sunday, May 16, 2020, at 2 p.m. Alaska time via Zoom.

To attend the Zoom celebration, please email memorialforsuzanne@gmail.com to be sent the Zoom link. The celebration of life will include reflections from family and friends as well as music contributions from Jaunelle Celaire, University of Alaska Fairbanks music chair, and Janice Trumbull, Northland Children's Choir.

Suzanne, the daughter of the late Lady Clare Gardner Summerville and the late John W. Summerville, was born in Dallas, Texas. She was raised in Beaumont, Texas, where she developed an early interest in music. She earned a bachelor's degree from the Randolph Macon College for Women in Lynchburg, Virginia, and furthered her education by obtaining two master's degrees and a Ph.D. in musicology in German from the University of Berlin.

Suzanne was a mezzo-soprano and she sang in many opera houses throughout Europe before returning to the United States to start her career as a professor of music at the University of Iowa. In 1977, Suzanne then journeyed to the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she was a professor of music and women's studies. She was also the founder and director of the Scholar's Program. She retired in 1999.

Suzanne is credited with commissioning over 160 pieces of music with many of those compositions focusing on the poetry of Alaska. She did extensive research on the lives and music of Robert Crawford and Fanny Hensel. She was the recipient of many grants and awards recognizing her contributions to the arts and women in music.

Suzanne was a member of the Fairbanks Arts Association and the International Alliance of Women in Music, an organization that was founded in her home office in 1993 after she hosted musicAlaskawomen. This National Endowment of the Arts event brought together people from all over the world to Fairbanks and the university and introduced original music compositions from women, also artwork and poetry. Suzanne was the founder and director of the Fairbanks Choral Society, which established an annual "Sing It Yourself Messiah" program for over 35 years and which is now part of the Northland Children's Choir.

After her retirement, Suzanne continued to focus on music and traveled extensively as a presenter for many programs including the Byron Society, participated in the Osher Lifelong Learning program as a student as well as an instructor, and was a docent at the Wickersham House at Pioneer Park. In 2015, she was the recipient of the UAF Inaugural Women's Center Gala.

She had many pets over the years, and showed her love for them all, especially her dogs, cats and birds, through her Concerts for the Animals which raised awareness and funds for the Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund.

After leaving Alaska for medical reasons in 2017, Suzanne continued to support the arts by sponsoring concerts with the Summerville Orchestra in Summerville, South Carolina, (and loved that she lived in a city with her name!). She came to New Jersey in 2019 with her family, but it was always her intention to return to Alaska. She always wore her Alaska jewelry and was truly and ambassador for Fairbanks and Alaska to everyone she met.

Perhaps her most important legacy is the contribution of her research and related documents to the UAF Archives which will benefit students for years to come.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Suzanne's memory to any of the following Fairbanks, Alaska, charities: Northland Children's Choir - S-I-Y Messiah; the Fairbanks Arts Association; Pet Pride, the Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund, the University of Alaska Foundation - Rasmussen Library Archives Fund #20186 or the UAF Music Department.

Suzanne is survived by her beloved spouse Kathy E. Vaupel; her brother-in-law, Ernest W. Vaupel, Jr. and his wife, Donna K. Vaupel; her nephew, Daniel Vaupel; her niece, Kate Almeida and her husband, Michael; and her great-nephew, Ethan Almeida.