Susan Jessie Marianne is the fourth child and third daughter of Elizabeth Bathgate and Bert Sim. She was born in Mosgiel, Otago, in September 1959. The family were farming at Hindon at that point but about a year later moved temporarily to Beth’s brother’s farm at Beehive Road, Outram, until Bert bought another farm at Brydone, where the family moved in April 1961. Susan went to Brydone Primary School and later Wyndham District High School (in 1971 this became Menzies College).
There were times Sue was not well as a baby and it was found she had a profound hearing loss. Public health policy at the time was that children who were deaf were to be fitted with hearing aids but not allowed to learn Sign language. Despite this Sue and her siblings developed their own gestures to make it easier to communicate. The Sumner School for the Deaf in Christchurch was suggested as an option, but Sue’s family decided to keep her at home and attend the local school. Sue had regular visits to Gore for speech therapy, first with Miss Ward, then Miss Corrigall, and later with Miss Stewart (now wife of Eric Roy, MP).
As a small girl Sue would get quite ill in the winter-spring season and would end up in hospital for some weeks in order to recover. Sue remembers this happened every year for about 6 years in a row until she was about 12. The doctor suspected a wheat allergy might be the cause but there wasn’t the information available about these things then as there is now, and so it wasn’t until well into adulthood that Sue found she is gluten-intolerant, and changed her diet accordingly.
Even as a very small girl Sue displayed an amazing artistic gift. She could draw little cartoon figures and make them look “alive.” She would draw pictures on any piece of paper she got hold of. In her teens she sketched cartoons of family members, working from photographs. After Emma started school, Sue taught herself to paint watercolours after watching Nancy Tichborne’s videos. Flowers, hearts, portraits, and her beloved cats and dogs were frequent themes, and on a number of occasions she has been invited to exhibit her paintings in Dunedin as one of NZs best-known artists. Those who admire Sue’s work appreciate her attention to detail and bright colours.
Link to see Sue’s paintings on http://suecarey1959.deviantart.com
(These were uploaded there for her by her eldest son, Jacob, to whom she is most grateful for doing that for her.)
After Sue finished high school she worked in the art department of H & J Smiths store in Gore. She was here for 5 years. She later spent some time in Paraburdoo, Western Australia, with her sister Anne whose husband John was working there. Later when Anne and John returned to Invercargill, Southland, Sue met a friend of John’s, Warren Carey (“Love at first sight” says Warren), who grew up at 74 Glenpark Avenue, Mornington, Dunedin. Sue and Warren were married in the nearby Mornington Presbyterian church on 2nd September 1983. Their first home together was at Merlin Place in Gore, where their 4 children were born – Jacob Everard Clarrie Carey in 1985, Simon Fairlie Graeme Carey in 1987, Jethro Peter John Carey in 1989, and Emma Elizabeth Nancy Carey in 1994 – all at Gore Hospital. In 2001 they moved to Richmond, Nelson, then in 2003 back to Gore, and then back to Richmond again in 2004. Here the children finished their schooling.
Toward the end of 2010 Sue was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in her abdomen. The following year she had an 8-month course of chemotherapy which shrank the lymphoma considerably. When some lumps appeared on her neck, in 2012 she had another gruelling 2 sessions of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. Later that year she also had some surgery and radiotherapy to her neck when more lumps appeared there. Things were now looking good and Sue was feeling well again. Unfortunately she had a very stubborn lymphoma and in 2013 she was told by her specialist that it had “woken up and started to walk.”
In August 2013 Sue felt a lot better and she and Warren spent a weekend in Dunedin to catch up with Simon, her Dad and family, including a dinner at Lone Star where she and all her siblings were together again for the first time in more than a decade. As it was less than a month till Sue and Warren’s 30th wedding anniversary, Anne provided a beautifully decorated anniversary cake to surprise them, and Eleanor brought a card which everyone present signed.
While in Dunedin they were also able to visit the Edinburgh Realty art exhibition at the Otago Art Society gallery at the Railway Station, where Sue had entered her latest completed painting http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/269771/art-seen-variety-awards-show-high-standard
See my story “Our Danny” by clicking here.
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