Susan Jo Gunning

Susan Jo (Anderson) Gunning was a loving daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, musician, teacher, mentor, second mom, stand partner, and volunteer, who was indefinitely generous with her time and spirit.
Susan was born on June 15th, 1948, in Grand Rapids, Michigan as the only daughter of Fred and Ruth Anderson. She began playing the violin at an early age. She attended Coit School and Central High School and was on her Homecoming Court. An excellent student, she was valedictorian and was awarded a Regent's Scholarship to attend The University of Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in String Instruments and a Master of Music in Violin Performance. Susan was an accomplished professional violinist who enjoyed playing and teaching immensely.
She played at the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado during college, and taught several summers at Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Over her career, she played in the Grand Rapids Symphony, Flint Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Miami-I95 Symphony, Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, Palm Beach Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, and Oak Ridge Symphony, primarily as the principal second violin. She was an excellent teacher to students from elementary to high school and had a private studio for many individual students. She began teaching orchestra in the public schools in Ann Arbor, taught Suzuki in Miami, and played in a violin, piano, and French horn trio that performed at all the public schools in Palm Beach. She began teaching in the Oak Ridge Schools in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1990 and then led the orchestra program full time at the Webb School of Knoxville, where she taught for more than 20 years until her retirement in 2013. All of her students adored her and many of them continued to play their instruments well into adulthood. She also enjoyed playing in chamber groups and her playing extended to the theatre, where she played in the pit orchestra in many productions at the Oak Ridge Playhouse and conducted musicals at Webb School of Knoxville and Oak Ridge High School.
Throughout her life, Susan was dedicated to service that uplifted those in need and preserved the natural environment. As a mentor in Tennessee Achieves, she assisted students in the transition from high school to college. She was an active member of Grace Lutheran Church where she sang in the choir, played for special services, helped organize music (including a few years leading the children's choir), and regularly contributed her violin talents to services for 35 years. She volunteered in the church's food pantry to ensure that homebound individuals would receive needed food supplies. Susan was also a committed supporter of nature conservation and spent a considerable amount of time hiking and exploring national and state parks.
A member of the Sigma Kappa Sorority, Susan met John Gunning at a party between her sorority and John's fraternity as a freshman at University of Michigan. They were married in 1972 and began their life of travel with a camping road trip to the Canadian Rockies, where they stayed in the Chateau Lake Louise before backpacking through the Valley of the Ten Peaks. Upon their return to Ann Arbor, Susan began teaching elementary orchestra in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and John began the PhD program in Nuclear Engineering. Between Susan and John, they have five degrees from the University of Michigan.
Susan and John expanded their family in Ann Arbor, Michigan with Christian (1979) and Syrah (1982). John began work with Bechtel in Ann Arbor and the family subsequently relocated for his work. They first moved to South Miami in 1984 (where John worked for the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant) for two years and next to Palm Beach Gardens in 1987, where they were for another three years.
Finally, they moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1990 where they lived in the same wonderful house in the woods for 35 years. Susan was a lifelong traveller and explorer who loved meeting new people and seeing new places. She traveled extensively throughout the US, Canada, and abroad including backpacking through Europe with John when first married, touring Russia back when this was still possible, and following Mozart's life. Susan and John backpacked in Rocky National Park and Isle Royal National Park, hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and hiked a significant portion of the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains. In June 2025 they went on a fabulous land and sea trip to Alaska, completing their visits to all 50 states. Susan even took a 3-month, 13,000 mile road trip in 1986 from Florida to the Pacific Coast and back with her children (ages 5 and 8 at the time), camping at dozens of national parks. Susan's life and home was always full of music, art, and world cultures and she was a major patron and supporter of the arts. John shared this passion and they spent their 50+ years together sharing thousands of performances and museum and cultural experiences ranging from the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Opera in London, and the Knoxville Symphony and Opera, to Elton John, Dolly Parton, and the Oak Ridge Playhouse, and everything in between. She loved exploring the world and introducing her children and friends to new cultures, foods, museums, and architecture. She was an excellent cook and host, who curated a welcoming, comforting home where you always felt welcome and accepted.
Shortly after their retirement in 2013, Susan and John began over a decade of nautical adventures on their 31' Camano trawler named Nuclear Fishin. Their first grand adventure was their Odyssey on America's Great Loop, the 5,500-mile water journey around the eastern half of the U.S. Beginning in Port Salerno, they travelled north to the Intercoastal Waterway, up the East Coast to New York, up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal and onto Canadian waters, and then back to Mackinac Island in the US. After a brief hiatus, they travelled through Lake Michigan and then the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers, to Mobile, Alabama and then to the Gulf Coast and the west coast of Florida, eventually completing their official 'loop' journey in Fort Myers in January of 2016. From there, they continued to Marathon in the Florida Keys, and returned to Oak Ridge. Each year Susan and John returned to their boat, staying in Marathon for January, cruising to Key West for February, and returning to Marathon for March. In 2022 they brought Nuclear Fishin up the East Coast to Annapolis, Maryland where their daughter Syrah lives. They returned regularly to visit and tour the Chesapeake. They took their last Chesapeake cruise in November 2025.
Susan was a loving mother and grandmother dedicated to learning with an extensive children's book and toy collection. Susan and John enjoyed visiting Christian and his family (spouse Natalie and their two children, Aspen (7) and Elaenia (5)) in Gambier, Ohio, as well Syrah and her family (spouse Jen and their two children Wake (5) and Wells (3)) in Annapolis, Maryland. She was a mother to four happy dogs over the years–terrier Gunner and three black labs Lady, Cecily and Madeline–as well as mother to a happy bearded dragon, Lizzy. She leaves two granddogs, Collins (12) and Bandit (1). Susan was immensely proud of her family, students, friends, and especially grandchildren. She will be missed by all, particularly her children Christian and Syrah, grandchildren, and John, her husband of 53 years.
A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 11am at Grace Lutheran Church located at 131 West Gettysburg Avenue, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37830. Receiving of friends will precede the service at 10am and a reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall.
Donations in Susan's memory can be directed to any of her causes including the Nature Conservancy, the National Park Foundation, Planned Parenthood, ORCMA (Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, home of the Oak Ridge Symphony), the Oak Ridge Playhouse, and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).