Susan Speight

1948 - 2004

Susan Speight passed away Thursday, Aug, 12, 2004.

Memorial service: 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, at First Methodist Church, Henderson Ave., Fort Worth. For details, see the memorial Web site at www.susanspeight.org.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to Human Rights Campaign, Houston Galveston Institute, Dickinson Beautiful, I Have A Dream Foundation of Fort Worth, and/or the University of Houston Clear Lake.

Susan Speight was a fighter. When she was small, she fought with her mother about dance lessons and party dresses. When she grew up, she fought along with the politicians in the Texas legislature for the mental health of families. She led the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy in its battle for good family mental health practices. She fought for the Texas Family Trust Fund out of the attorney general's office and for improvements in the Texas Family code as it relates to divorcing families, along with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. As a respected and well-known family therapist in Clear Lake, she fought for her therapy clients and trainees, always trying to coax them into strength and resiliency. In all of these arenas, family, political and professional, she won. Tragically, on Aug. 12, 2004, after 56 years of fighting and winning, Susan fought against death for two days and lost. The injuries she had sustained in a jet ski accident were too severe, even for her strong and determined will.

But Susan was much more than a fighter. Susan was a playful and mischievous adult. In fact, she was the preferred playmate of most children who knew her. Susan adored her three shared children, five grandsons and eight nieces and nephews, and all of them brightened under the intense and unwavering light of Susan's love and attention.

In fact, Susan thought everyone should play, regardless of age, whether they liked it or not. She loved to play games of all kinds: canasta (she lost), volleyball (she won), softball (she won) and swim races (she won). She also loved to play with grown-up toys: computers, cell phones, big televisions, snow skis, jet skis and swimming pools.

Susan loved adventure, whether it was exploring a Central American jungle, hiking in New Zealand or simply spending a day at Disney World. But for Susan, the adventure was incomplete without the company of people she loved, because more than almost anything, Susan loved people and people loved her.

She was a compassionate, attentive listener with an amazing ability to sort through a problem and sort out a solution. Once she discovered a solution, she was strategic and persuasive and utterly irresistible. She just completed a course as a Galveston Bay area master naturalist, which was a new adventure for her. Last weekend, she attended her first meeting as a board member of Dickinson Beautiful.

Susan had a keen mind and an amazing will, and she loved a challenge. She not only graduated as a National Merit Scholar from Castleberry High School in River Oaks in 1966, she was also a champion swimmer in both high school and college. In fact, she held swimming records for many years. After high school, she earned her bachelor's degree in biology at the University of Texas and worked for three years on a master's in genetics. She finally found her true calling at the University of Houston at Clear Lake with a master's in marriage and family therapy.

Susan was a gifted teacher. As a teen-ager, she taught swimming, and later, as a marriage and family therapist, she taught, trained and supervised many therapists, both young and old.

Susan was a respected leader. She led the way to change and innovation in her profession. She and Pam Barton and Leslye Mize founded Interact Counseling and Consultation, Inc. in Clear Lake. Together they created an innovative, cutting-edge therapy practice that served the community for many years, and Susan inspired much of its direction.

Susan loved adventure and people. She was a teacher, a leader and friend. She was a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and aunt.

Survivors: A large and loving family which includes her life partner of 25 years, Pam Barton, of Dickinson; her parents, Jack and Carolyn Speight; sisters, Sally Culver and her husband, Kevin, and their daughters, Courtney, Caroline and Megan, Stacey Bass and her husband, David, and their children, Lauren, Hillary and William; brother, John Speight and his wife, Kathryn, and their sons, Jason and Justin, all of Fort Worth; shared children, Joseph Linbeck and partner, Misty Moye, of Houston, Janet Barkis and her husband, Chris, sons, Stephen, Matthew and Nick of McKinney, Nicole Grayban and her husband, Glen, sons, Joshua and Zachary, of Friendswood; and many other relatives and friends.