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Susan P. Hayden
<p>Susan Patricia Hayden, 71, of Rochester Hills, Michigan, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully on November 21, 2022 surrounded by her family. </p><p><br></p><p>Susan was born on August 24, 1951 to Evelyn and Merrill Hayden in Waterbury, Connecticut. She moved to Michigan as a child and graduated from Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills. She went on to study at Michigan State University, married William Mackela, had two children and bought a home in Rochester Hills in 1976, where she would spend the remainder of her life.</p><p><br></p><p>In the mid-1980s, Susan went back to school to earn her nursing degree and worked as a registered nurse for many years. She remarried in 1990, managed a home healthcare agency for a time and shortly thereafter decided to return to school to pursue a master’s degree in an elite and rigorous anesthesia program. The courage and self-determination required to make such a leap of faith were inspirational to those who knew her, and her children were especially impressed by her efforts. Susan worked as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) at Troy Beaumont Hospital until her retirement several years ago, where she excelled as a clinician due to her disciplined commitment to expert patient care and nurturing bedside manner.</p><p><br></p><p>In addition to her professional career, Susan was a published author. Her love of the written word began as a young child and was encouraged by a particularly wonderful fourth grade teacher, which resulted in her first published piece that year in Highlights for Children magazine. She passed her love of language and writing on to her children, and fittingly, that legacy continues in her granddaughter, Charlotte, who recently celebrated the publication of her first poem in a children’s magazine!</p><p><br></p><p>Susan had a profound love and appreciation for the simple, meaningful aspects of life. Her friends and family, including the four-legged variety, were of the utmost importance to her, and her well of adoration for them ran deep. She loved nature, especially the shores of Lake Michigan, and spent many peaceful hours outside gardening, basking in the sunshine and admiring any of God’s creatures that happened along. In the early 1990s, she and her second husband, Thomas Smith, built a cottage on that beloved Lake Michigan shoreline in the Upper Peninsula. Crossing the Mackinac Bridge to travel to this northern getaway terrified her, but the adventure was well worth the white-knuckled journey.</p><p><br></p><p>She also enjoyed good music and good food. A common stop for brunch for Susan was a little deli called Hershel’s, where she and her family indulged in legendary Brownie Mountains of epic proportions following trips to Detroit’s Eastern Market. And if you were fortunate enough to be asked to Sunday dinners at her house, you would be quickly filled to the brim with her mouth-watering offerings of family favorites like Swedish meatballs, cheese soufflé, California casserole and lemon meringue pie.</p><p><br></p><p>Highly intuitive and empathetic, Susan was the first to hold you tightly in your darkest hours as well as wholeheartedly celebrate your joys with unbridled enthusiasm. Many don’t know this as Susan was a quiet person, but she had a wonderful sense of humor. Quick witted, clever and a little delightfully offbeat, Susan was rumored to sometimes do zany things like dressing up her dogs in special holiday hats and naming her lawn sprinkler (Tilly, if memory serves). But life was always more than just surface level for Susan. A true Meyers-Briggs INFP, she sought deeper, more meaningful connections than most of us ever dare.</p><p><br></p><p>Susan was extraordinary — kind, courageous, wise, wicked smart, determined, loyal, tenderhearted, creative, generous, humble and absolutely, completely irreplaceable. She will be so very dearly missed by all those who knew and loved her.</p><p><br></p><p>Susan is preceded in death by her parents, Evelyn and Merrill; her brothers, Merrill and David; and many beloved dogs and cats. Surviving and mourning her death are her husband, Thomas Smith; her sister, Kathleen (Anthony) Weber; as well as her children, Scott (Lauren) Mackela and Amy (Christopher) Pagett; her stepson Christopher (Erin) Smith; and her current canine babies, Phoebe Rose and Breeze (Breezy). She is also survived by her grandchildren, Tiernan (Mark), Emma, Gracie, Cooper, Samuel, Charlotte, Caitlin, Connor and Benjamin; former husband William (Norma) Mackela; along with many loving nieces, nephews, friends and coworkers.</p><p><br></p><p>A Memorial Service will be held at Lynch & Sons Funeral Home, 1368 N. Crooks Road (between 14 and 15 Mile Roads) in Clawson on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. Friends may also visit to pay their respects on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.</p><p><br></p><p>As a lifelong animal lover, Susan volunteered for The Leader Dogs for the Blind after she retired and supported many charitable organizations that saved animals’ lives. To that end, if you are interested in donating to a charity in her name, please consider the Leader Dogs for the Blind or any no-kill animal shelter of your choosing, such as Michigan Animal Rescue League (www.marl.org), Livingston County Animal Shelter (www.livgov.com/animalshelter) or Take My Paw Rescue (www.takemypaw.org).</p><p><br></p><p>The Funeral was recorded and can be viewed at the following link: <a href="//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXOI1HKhRWk" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXOI1HKhRWk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXOI1HKhRWk</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>August 24, 1951 - November 21, 202208/24/195111/21/2022
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Susan P. Hayden
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