Susan Gillotti, a resident of Kendal at Hanover since 2022, died on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.  She had a rare blood disease that qualified her for medical aid in dying and chose the date. She was with a small number of close friends at a mountaintop home in Rockingham, VT.

Susan was born in Manhattan on January 17, 1939, the daughter of Lewis Bates McCabe of Garrison, New York and Helen Elizabeth Crosby of Rhinebeck, New York. In 1942 the family moved to Rockville, Maryland, a southern town of 2500 people. She saw at an early age the pernicious effects of segregation and all her life tried to erase the lines that divide people.

Her upbringing was what some might consider privileged, with a great-aunt who sat at the dinner table wearing a diamond brooch and admonishing, "Elbows off the table. Sit up straight. Don't make noise eating your soup." While grateful for the tutelage, Susan wanted to expand her boundaries. She wanted friends from every walk of life.

Susan graduated from Vassar in 1960 and married Albert F. Gillotti, Yale '60, in 1962. She worked for the American Civil Liberties Union during the time of the civil rights movement, served on the staff of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller when he ran for president, and advocated for parttime jobs for women college graduates who wanted time to raise children. Al was an international banker and in 1980 they moved to London for fifteen years. He retired to write novels and in 1995 they moved to Martha's Vineyard. Susan became a Jungian psychotherapist and board member of the Martha's Vineyard NAACP.  She would tell you that the most important thing is to listen to what's inside and discover what's meaningful for you, and to pursue it if you can.

Susan was happiest writing and enjoying quiet conversations. She co-authored How To Go To Work When Your Husband Is Against It, Your Children Aren't Old Enough, and There's Nothing You Can Do Anyhow (Simon & Schuster, 1971) and published a memoir of her forebears entitled Women of Privilege (Academy Chicago, 2013). She published case studies in The Journal of Sandplay Therapy. She had a keen eye for art and color and was unapologetic about painting her living room red. It made her feel cozy on gray days. Towards the end of her life she often sat in her living room and wrote poetry.

Susan and Al moved to Norwich, Vermont in 2007. Al died in 2018, also using medical aid in dying, and was grateful to the State of Vermont for passing the legislation that made it possible. Susan's sister, Sheila Kendall Hagan, died in 2019. She is survived by her sister Judith Crosby Conway of Cape Town, South Africa, and two nephews, Donald Lewis Hagan of Siesta Key, Florida and Timothy Brince Hagan of Maitland, Florida. Her ashes will be joined with her husband's at a brookside location in Norwich. There will be no memorial service. Arrangements have been provided by Knight Funeral Home in White River Junction, Vermont.