I was stunne by the news about Susan’s passing away from us. I regret I didn’t write a follow-up letter to tell her how much I appreciate the works she has done for the pens of one friend of mine, along with her hospitality every time I met her during a pen show.
Susan was one of the first exhibitors I get known with during my pen show experience here in the states, and all the stories began when I was talking with her Friend, Neville, about a pen I was carrying and casually talking about some defects of it. Susan also loved that pen. Later that day, Susan helped me a lot in coping with the problems of that pen with great passion and introduced me to Deborah, Nikola and Barbara. Knowing the fact that this pen comes from a friend of mine, Susan prompted a deal to improve its grinding to give it more appealing personality.
We decided to make the grinding happen during last month’s Long Island Pen Show, and she delivered it in a thorough way. She was holding a seriously high bar about the final quality of the modification that she told me once realized that she couldn’t handle that nib by her part, she sent that pen to Richard Binder in the opening of the show, with some description stickers attached to the pen. I asked Richard what’s the purpose of those labels with unique terms, and he told me that Susan has always been using this system for years. In the end, I got a brilliant Italic nib with both Susan and Binder’s grinding in it, and Susan only charged me the usual price of her rather than the actual price she paid Binder.
Words can’t express how much I appreciate the detailed works and passion she has imbued into my pen, a pen simply from an ordinary pen show newbie, and all the brilliant people she has introduced me to. To me, she is my mentor in the pendom.
I still remembered the way she handled the packaging process seamlessly and fluently at the end of each pen show, and how resilient she was no matter how challenging the schedule was. Last time I met her, she complained to me a little about how exhausted she always feels every time after a show, especially during the season when one pen show follows tight on another. It must be a challenging job, both physically and mentally to consistently participate in the events in the Pendom, but it never came to me that things could happen so fast.
Rest in peace Aunt Susan.
Frank Dong
