Susanna Buie Matthews' Obituary
Susanna Buie Matthews died on May 1, 2024 in Tallahassee, Florida. She was 84 years old. Born in Karachi, Pakistan (British India), she returned with her parents to America prior to the outbreak of World War II. The family settled in Columbia, South Carolina and after the war moved to Tallahassee, Florida in 1956 when her father accepted a position at FSU with The Geology Department. She was a member of Saint John’s Episcopal Church (she was married there in 1959). As a teenager she worked at The Leon County Library on Monroe Street. She attended Leon High School. She was in the Leon High Choir and a proud member of the Melodears ensemble group.
After graduating from Leon in 1957, Susanna accepted a scholarship to Vassar College in New York State. In 1959 she married John Sanford Matthews and moved to Tampa, Florida (living on on Davis Island). She graduated with honors in the charter class of The University of South Florida in 1963. While in Tampa she was a member of Saint Andrews Episcopal Church, worked as a high school teacher at Blake High School and was an active volunteer with the March of Dimes, Florida League of Woman Voters, Florida Democratic Party along with many other charities and civic groups.
In 1970 Susanna entered the doctoral program in The Department of Government at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, receiving her Masters degree in political science and completing all but the dissertation. She moved to Mankato, Minnesota in 1972 to teach in the State university system. While working to complete her dissertation in Comparative Politics over the summer of 1973, Susanna was offered a position in the Reubin Askew administration as Housing Administrator with the Governor's Housing Goals Council.
After her son, John, Jr. graduated from Leon High School in 1978, Susanna moved to Hartford, Connecticut working with state government in a variety of capacities and returned to Tallahassee in 1981. She reconnected with St. Johns. She worked for The State of Florida with Governor Bob Graham and The Department of Florida Housing and Urban Development. Susanna was appointed to the State of Florida Board of Acupuncture by Governor Graham. Susanna was also a Certified Financial Planner and accredited volunteer with The Internal Revenue Service providing community, free of charge help for low to moderate-income families needing assistance.
Ms. Matthews is survived by her only son John Sanford Matthews, Jr., her sisters Margret Buie Keppie (Nova Scotia, Canada) and Julia Buie Steinitz (Salzburg, Austria) along with many loved cousins, nieces and nephews (Aunt Susie). She was preceded in death by her parents Dr. B. F. Buie and Susanna Pierce Buie and her sister Carolyn Buie Erdener. There will be no public funeral. Ms. Matthews remains will be privately interred.
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