Susan Diane Cavanaugh

Susan Diane Cavanaugh, 68, of Moses Lake, joined her father Curtis Ostrom in Heaven on May 14, 2023. She was born December 16, 1954 in Minneapolis. She is survived by her mother, Ellen; her step-father, William; her step-mother, Kathe; her husband of 46 years, Timothy; her three sons, Sean, Neil, and Ian; and her six grandchildren, Grey, Hazel, Axel, Caz, Carter, and Nicholas. As a mother, Susan gained a well-deserved reputation for sewing her children original (and often prize-winning) Halloween costumes. In between cans of Tab, she mastered cake decorating so that she could make her boys highly stylized (and delicious) birthday cakes. Despite an uneasy detente with bugs and dirt, she gleefully served as a den mother when her sons took an interest in cub scouts. And she spared no effort in sharing her love of skiing with her children, whether it rained all day or not. She attended every basketball game, every swim meet, every play, every recital, every graduation… always a little furnace of love, radiating affection for her boys. Susan’s greatest gift was tied to her domestic skills but went far beyond it. In an age where we are all urged “not to sweat the small stuff,” she believed that details, even tiny ones, even the ones only she noticed, mattered. From the handcrafted curtains, dust ruffles, throw pillows, and window seats to the Amish furniture, folk art, and omnipresent pottery, every inch of Susan’s home was engraved with her personality. She wrestled endlessly over the right paint colors, the right wrapping paper, the right flowers in the perfect places to bloom in the correct order. Her attention to detail extended everywhere in Susan’s life. The thoughtful gift. The perfectly-timed smile. The well-placed word of reassurance. She was a master at avoiding lulls in conversation precisely because she wanted to save others from awkward pauses. “You should always be nice to everyone,” she once explained, “because you never know what else is happening in their lives.” And she was. Nice. To everyone. Not Minnesota nice. Not polite. She was genuinely kind. It often took strangers months to realize that she was not putting on a show. Then, out of the blue, the person would remark to her quizzically, “So, you’re just this nice all the time?” As “Grammy,” Susan doted upon her grandchildren, playing endless board games (usually resisting the urge to cheat), coloring, and listening with rapt attention as they babbled about their lives. She always planned activities for the kids and rewarded herself with a twinkly smile whenever she succeeded in showing them a good time. Pigs could fly past her head, and she would still steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that her little angels could do anything wrong. She never forgot a holiday or a birthday, and she stamped each occasion with a card scrawled out in her distinctive penmanship. Susan died, as she lived, preoccupied with the well-being of everyone around her. No one met her whose life hasn’t been embroidered with her spirit. Susan’s memorial will be held in Minnesota in late July. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Shriners Hospitals for Children or St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Susan Diane Cavanaugh

December 16, 1954 - May 14, 2023