Suzanne Buchanan

Suzanne Alyce Buchanan, 86, died Monday, October 20, 2014 at home in Durango, Colorado. A private gathering of family and friends to honor her life will be scheduled for a later date.
Sue was born on February 24, 1928 in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of Arthur and Marjorie Nygren. She attended Seattle public schools and in 1950 graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Fine Arts and Clothing Design. During her time at UW, she was involved in activities with returning 10th Mountain Division veterans and became an avid skier. She married Garth Buchanan, one of those 10th MT veterans in June of 1950. Both were only children and history showed that such a union would be short. It lasted 64 years.
Sue’s life after marriage involved assisting Garth in his work and pursuing her own art and home making. She assisted Garth in his graduate studies at the University of Colorado by obtaining a management position in the Universities’ dormitory system while taking more classes in art history. After Garth graduated with a PHD in science, Sue continued her interest in art and skiing during his many moves in the field of Operations Research. First in Santa Monica, California, then to MIT in Boston where their two sons Rees and Even were born. Next, Garth was asked to join the staff of the Institute For Defense Analyses in Northern Virginia, where Sue became Vice President of the Northern Virginia Art Association. That organization was responsible for purchasing and renovating an old building on the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia that became the city’s famous art center called the “Torpedo Factory”.
After 17 years on the east coast, Sue and Garth had an opportunity to return to Colorado. The family settled in Evergreen, Colorado satisfying their desire to return to good skiing. Sue became a member of the Red Rocks painting group, studying under Don Coen, a professor of art at Red Rocks Community College. Her work was shown in a number of exhibits in the Denver area and winning a prize at a show at the University of Northern Colorado.
After 10 years in Evergreen, Garth was recruited back to Defense work at the Institute For Defense Analyses, and Sue and Garth moved back to Northern Virginia. Possibly the most productive time in her painting life took place in her own studio in Reston Virginia. Several homes in the area have collections of her work including one in Casline, Maine.
In 1989 Garth retired and he and Sue moved to Durango, Colorado where their youngest son Evan lived. Sue became involved with the Durango Arts Center on the Exhibit Committee under Barbara Conrad and then Brian Wagner. She participated in one and two person shows at the DAC and her artwork was selected for most DAC’s juried exhibits until Macular Degeneration caused her to give up painting in the mid 2000s. While unable to continue painting, her interest in art remained unabated until her death last Monday.
Her husband Garth survives her, as well as their two sons Rees in Phoenix, Arizona. and Evan in Durango, Colorado. Rees’s wife Lisa, their son Grant, daughter Brittney and her husband Vince Mytko, along with their daughter Darby and son Brady live in Phoenix. Evan’s wife Amy and their daughter Emma live in Durango. Their other daughter Olivia is studying at Montana State University in Bozeman. Evan, Amy and Emma along with Garth were at her bedside when she died peacefully and quietly under Hospice care.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Hospice or the Durango Arts Center.