Suzanne Elizabeth Babbidge  Age:77

of Islesboro, Maine and Fair Harbor, Fire Island

 

Suzanne Babbidge, 77,  passed  away on July 25, 2013 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan with her family by her side.

Sue was born on January 29th, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York to Douglass Pendleton Babbidge and Helen Shea Babbidge. She had spent many summers with her grandmother, Katherine Pendleton  Babbidge,  on Islesboro, in the home where her father grew up.  After graduating high school at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, she went on to earn a B.A in Economics at Middlebury College. In 1957  she launched her career in Computer Systems and became one of the first women to work at IBM as a Systems Analyst which was a field dominated by men. Sue went on to work in various computer management positions in the banking industry before retiring in 1986.

In her youth she loved to ski, play tennis and sail. In college she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and continued to volunteer with them in later years.  

Sue chose to retire early and moved to Islesboro in 1988, where she has been a full time resident for over 25 years.  She enjoyed gardening, reading, sewing, and caring for a long line of beloved canine associates.  She was very active in her community. She was president of the Islesboro Second Baptist Sewing Circle where she truly treasured all her friends there and the projects they created together.  She loved to sing and found great pleasure in belonging to the Islesboro Community Chorus.

Sue also kept a second home in Fair Harbor, on Fire Island New York.  She first visited in 1958 and met many lifelong friends.  She loved the sound of the ocean from her beach house and going on walks around the island with Taffy, her dog. 

Sue was a great friend, grandmother and mother.  She loved her dog Taffy , a true friend and constant companion.  She is predeceased by her parents and her sister Marcia. She is survived by her loving children and grandchildren, daughter Amy McLaughlin Smith, and son-in-law Stig Smith of South Portland, Maine, her son Douglass McLaughlin, daughter-in-law MaryEllen McLaughlin and grandchildren Clare, Daniel and Grace McLaughlin of Katonah, New York.  She was loved by all of us and will be sorely missed.   In lieu of flowers please consider making donations to the Beacon Project at http://www.islesborobeacon.org/