Suzanne Rogers
AKRON - Surely, the 1925 chart topper “If you knew Susie” was inspired by Suzanne “Susie” Rogers, because “oh, oh, oh what a girl”. To know Susie was a gift, and it is with gratitude for having been part of her life that we mark her passing on Sunday, August 18, 2024. She was indescribably charismatic, fun loving, and devoted as a family member, civic leader, and friend.
Commissioned by the Akron Garden Club, a watercolor of Susie surrounded by antiques and presiding over a dining room table stacked high with paperwork presents a quintessential view of its subject. Susie was a collector. Botanical prints, Victorian whatnots, “architectural delights”--these and other carefully selected treasures charmed visitors to the cozy West-Akron home she made with Bruce “Bud” Rogers, her husband of 65 years.
Susie didn’t just collect things; she brought people together. Those piles on the dining room table? Invitations to parties, thank you cards, meeting minutes from the various boards on which she served. These and other traces of a lively social life evidenced her commitment to community. Susie made friends from all walks of life, sustained lifelong friendships, and regularly cleared that dining room table to entertain guests. She relished holidays, lavishly decorating for them and organizing parties at which family and friends were made to feel welcome. Susie could be delightfully mischievous, sending anonymous valentines to the husbands of her unassuming friends, indulging her grandchildren with candy and cable TV, and flouting their strict bedtimes for firefly catching in her magical garden. She was whimsically known by friends as Akron’s “town crier,” second only to the Beacon Journal as a source of local news.
Born of a generation in which professional opportunity for women was limited, Susie made a career of volunteerism. She was past president of the Junior League of Akron, Women’s Board of Children’s Hospital, Cuyahoga Valley Association, Akron Garden Club, and Western Reserve Academy/ Pioneer Women. She was a member of the Board of Governors for Akron Golf Charities and a trustee of the Beacon Journal Charity Fund, Summit County Historical Society, United Cerebral Palsy, Old Trail School, and the University of Akron Women’s Committee and Foundation. Susie’s lifetime of volunteer work was extensively acknowledged. She was a recipient of the
United Way’s 1995 Distinguished Service Award and the 2004 University of Akron Alumni Honor Award. She was also named a distinguished alumnus of Old Trail School. Joint awards with Bud include the Akron Community Foundation’s Polsky Humanitarian Award (2008) and the Red Cross’s Community Leadership Award (2007). Additionally, the Akron Art Museum’s garden is named in her and Bud’s honor. Susie was a lifetime member of Westminster Presbyterian church.
Susie was born and spent her life in Akron, Ohio. As a child, she was resilient in the face of adversity, finding strong role models in her mother, Ruth Akers Seeley, and grandmother, Annie Akers. She had close ties to her extended family, including members of the Doris and Richard Corns family and a stepfather (Ed Seeley), all of whom provided a vital and loving family environment. She attended Portage Path Elementary School and became a Girl Scout, eventually serving as a counselor at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Ledgewood. Susie attended Buchtel High School, Old Trail School, the Pennsylvania College for Women, and The University of Akron. She married Bud in 1953, and together they raised three sons, by whom she is survived. They are Rick (Alita) of Akron, Ohio; Bruce (Jaeil) of Columbus, Ohio; and Stephen (Heidi Henderson) of Wakefield, Rhode Island. Susie’s grandchildren are Sarah Rogers Morris (Corbin), Madeline Stull (Adam), and Kezia and Altie Henderson Rogers. Her great grandchildren are Milo and Maxine Morris and Oliver and Charlotte Stull. Susie is preceded in death by Bud; her mother, Ruth Akers Seeley; father, Burchard Thomas; step father, Ed Seeley; and half brother, Charles Edwin Seeley. Calling hours will be held at the home of Richard and Alita Rogers (538 Woodside Drive, Akron, OH) on August 30 from 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Details to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Akron Garden Club.
To Share a Memory, Send a Condolence, or Light a Candle, please visit the Tribute Wall at www.billowfuneralhomes.com (Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel)