Susan sadly passed away from an overdose after a long battle with depression and drug abuse.   She will be cremated and her ashes given to the woman that raised her.  No memorial service being held so this is my eulogy to my friend to let her know she stands tall, is accounted for and matters.  
Susan was born in Kentucky. Her mother moved her Orangeburg, SC to be raised by a family friend after the death of Sue's sister and only sibling. I can imagine the trauma  this must have been for a child.  After high school Sue moved to Easton, Maryland where her mother resided.
Susan went on to get her degree as an x-ray technician, she was an advocate for animals, advocate for child welfare and in 2008 help create and operate a successful fishing guide service with her significant other.  Sue moved back to SC in 2015 due to personal circumstances.
Susan loved to fish, loved children, and being a mom to her pets.  Susan never met a stranger, she had a knack for making anyone feel welcomed and comfortable. She would be the first to lend a helping hand, offer a shoulder to cry on or lend an ear to listen.   If she called you her friend, you could count on her in all aspects and know she had your back or figure out a way to help you.......she just didn't know how to do that for herself.  She tried so hard to make everyone else happy.  What Susan hid so well was hide her depression, anxieties, insecurities and eventually her drug addiction.
Whether her death was accidental or purposely doesn't matter.  We will never know the depth of her struggle with depression and the drugs she used to try and mask it.  Depression cheats you and drugs rob you. Making it impossible for you to think clearly, to recognize long-term consequences of your actions or even to conceive that things will get better.   
 I think Robin Williams said it best.."The saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy".  That was Susan, always so giving of herself to make others happy while she suffered in silence.  
Susan's legacy is not how she died nor does if define who she was as a person.  Even with her life's scars and traumas it didn't stop her from being a woman with great compassion for all of humanity, nonjudgmental,   a  sensitive caring soul.  
She would never admit her sadness or depression nor her drug addiction, I'm sure she felt it shameful.......I wish, in vain, that she had known there was no shame to be had.  Depression/Addiction can affect anyone, at anytime, at any age, for any reason.  She wanted what we all want...to feel wanted, needed, loved, appreciated, valued, protected, to have a life of normalcy but her disease prevented her from seeing her own value and importance.
Wish instead that Susan now knows that she is and was loved.  We cannot blame ourselves or each other, but we can have the same compassion and understanding that Sue would have had........ depression and addiction are diseases that eat at you from the inside out like a cancer, many times without your awareness until it's too late  and you're left feeling you have nothing left to offer or live for.  Senseless loss of life to those who have never dealt with extreme depression or addiction.  Her disease beat her in this life but God triumphs in the next.   Susan's  painful struggle is over and she may finally find the peace and comfort she sought with such effort in life.  May God hold her forever in His arms as I will in my heart.  We Love you, We Miss you,  and We want You to be Happy.  Fly free from your earthly chains precious butterfly.