Susan Elizabeth (Pio) Kennedy died Sunday evening, April 17, in her Oak Bluffs home, surrounded by those who meant the very most in her life, on her terms and at her time. A childhood cancer survivor, Susan lived her life with courage and a quiet dignity, taking each day as the true gift it is, no matter what life brought her way.
Born in New Haven, Conn., a daughter of Michael R. Pio Jr. and the late Jacquelyn (Dion) Pio, she was raised in Webster, her parents’ hometown, and Dudley, and educated at Shepherd Hill Regional High School, Framingham State College, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing as an honors graduate.
Susan began her nursing career at Emerson Hospital in Concord before moving to Brighton and Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital, where she worked in the respiratory intensive care unit.
Susan honored Brian by becoming his wife on Columbus Day in 1984, and shortly after she began her nursing career on Martha’s Vineyard in the hospital’s ICU. Seeing her skills as a nurse combined with her empathy toward her patients and her compassion with family members, Dr. Gerald Westover approached Sue about becoming a nurse in his office; so in 1986 she left her “nursing buddies” Bobbi Look, Clara Ryan, and Beth Smith, among other friends, and moved over to Edgartown, where she began a 30-plus-year “adventure” as nurse, confidant, and friend to countless patients, family members, and medical professionals.
Whether it was in Edgartown at Katama Medical Associates with Dr. Westover, Dr. Dietz, or Dr. Tsikitas, or at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital with Dr. O’Brien, or the newly formed Pain Clinic, the one constant, day in and day out, year in and year out, was Susan Kennedy. Sue was an outstanding and knowledgeable nurse, a concerned friend who was always ready to help with acts of kindness, a comforting word, or a shoulder to lean on.
Sue never encountered anything in her life in which she did not see the glass as at least half full, if not overflowing. Despite ongoing illnesses as a direct result of her childhood cancer treatments, she greeted each and every day with a positive attitude, an unbreakable spirit, a smile that would light up any room she entered, and an absolutely fantastic sense of humor!
Sue endured the Red Sox, loved the ocean and “beaching it,” but she was most happy when she was working in her garden or entertaining in her home, cooking delicious meals surrounded by her family and friends.
Susan is survived by her husband and best friend of 32 years, Brian P., and her loving son Andrew J. and wife Jennifer A. Kennedy. Sue is also survived by her father, Michael R. Pio of Auburn; her sisters Mary Ellen (Pio) McMurray and husband Peter of Ashby, Jane M. (Pio) Sutor and fiance Thomas Walsh of Oxford; her brother Thomas M. Pio and his wife Marianna (Shinas) of Woodstock, Conn.; along with three nephews and four nieces whom she absolutely adored. Sue also leaves her father-in-law Joseph E. Kennedy of Whitman, her pup Molly and her best friend for life and fellow R.N. Cheryl Kram.
Anyone who wishes to make memorial donations in memory of Susan is asked to give to Camp Jabberwocky, P.O. Box 1357, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.
