Susan Gibson Raisch

Susan Gibson Raisch, 91, passed away peacefully on September 10, 2022, surrounded by her loving family. Susan was born in Detroit, Michigan to Ruth (Allinger) and G. Lincoln Gibson, Jr., and as a young woman, flourished at Miss Newman's School in Detroit and at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1953, Susan married U.S. Marine Corps. Lt. Robert S. Raisch of Detroit. Known to her friends as "Susie Sunshine", she was a gifted musician, dancer and actor, actively supported the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, and was the longest standing member of St. Dunstan's Theater Guild of Cranbrook where, when she wasn't at the footlights performing, could be found fashioning costumes backstage for more than a hundred performances. Her love of animals kept her life filled with rescuing, supporting, and loving all creatures that came her way. A creative force of nature, Susan did all things with great panache and always with a style of her own. From figure skating to curling, from tennis to alpine skiing, she never met a challenge she couldn't surmount, and more often than not, took these pursuits to the next level. She taught figure skating and helped found the Southfield Ice Show in the 1970's in which she performed as an ice dancer. At 65, Susie took her final bow to the admiration of esprit de corp. A consummate hostess, Susan was always quick to enliven an evening by singing and playing piano (which she did by-ear), often accompanied by either her husband or father on four-string banjo. Susan had an abiding passion for history and heritage which she pursued through travel, once attending a garden tea with Queen Elizabeth II in London, exploring the streets of Paris, plying the canals of Venice and driving cross country through North America. Born to the water, Susan first learned the alphabet from the stacks of freighters passing her family's cottage on Harsens Island, Michigan, sailed the Great Lakes with her family, and always enjoyed the beaches of Florida. She spent many summers on Harsens's Island as a youth before becoming a summer resident of Mackinac Island. Her pride and joy was Star Cottage in Hubbard's Annex and the seasons spent lovingly renovating it with her husband, being a docent of the Governor's Mansion, having High Tea at Grand Hotel, and making friends wherever she went. Ever faithful in Christ, Susan was a vigorously active member of Christ Church Cranbrook, Mariners' Church of Detroit and St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit. Susan is preceded in death by her grandson Robert and husband Bob. She is survived by her children, Robert, Elizabeth, Laura, and Julie, her grandchildren, Andrew, Katherine and Mathew, and her sister, Joan Craton. Services will be held on Mackinac Island, Michigan in the summer of 2023. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to Restore the Horse Foundation at https://motorcityhorseforce.wordpress.com/

Susan Gibson Raisch

April 26, 1931 - September 10, 2022