Suzanne Anthony Gorey, age 75, was released from her body on August 9, 2023. She died quietly in her home in Vienna, Virginia, surrounded by her loving family and longtime caregivers.

Suzanne leaves behind her daughter, Betsy. She has now been reunited with her husband, Hays, who passed away in July 2024, her beloved parents, 19 aunts and uncles, and pack of dogs that have already crossed the Rainbow Bridge, most recently, Mr. Peabody.

Suzanne was born to Dorsey and Susie Anthony in Tallassee, Alabama, in 1948. She stood out from her classmates at an early age. She loved to read, anything and everything. Her parents used to say that she read the encyclopedia at the dinner table as a child. Suzanne could make a friend of even the most quiet introvert. Her uncle once joked that she was so gregarious, people talked to her as a method of self-defense.

Suzanne loved to sing and had a voice like a nightingale crossed with a sonic boom. Congregants of the First Baptist Church of Tallassee remember her powerful soprano ringing out from the choir even after she moved away decades ago.

As a teen in the mid-1960s, a tumultuous period in the civil rights movement around Montgomery, Suzanne helped register Black Alabamians to vote. She worked alongside prominent activists. Suzanne attended sermons of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even when threatened, Suzanne was undeterred, and her parents knew better than to stand in her way.

Suzanne had big dreams. She left Tallassee High School a year early and went on to graduate from Auburn University in 1969 with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Awarded the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, she continued her studies, ultimately earning a Master’s degree from the University of Virginia.

While in Charlottesville, she worked for the Social Security Administration, helping people apply for disability benefits. A few days a week, she would travel parts of Appalachia, going to those too disabled to make it to an office to file their claims. Her empathy was evident in every case she worked on.

Suzanne worked as a Special Agent in the Department of Transportation and later transitioned to the Office of Inspector General Department of Transportation, upon its inception in 1978. She transferred to the Office of Inspector General Department of the Interior in 1985 as a senior agent. She was a superb case agent, and so moved up quickly through the ranks, ultimately becoming Director of Operations. She was indispensable in the office. The Inspector General for Investigations would joke that he was a figurehead, and if you really needed anything to go to Suzanne.

Suzanne met Hays, an attorney at the Department of Justice, in 1982. They were assigned to the same case, and Hays was immediately startled by the gorgeous Suzanne. As they spent time together, Hays only became more attracted to Suzanne’s intelligence, gentleness, and thoughtfulness. They married in 1984, and Suzanne gave birth to Betsy, their pride and joy, the following year. Suzanne loved nothing more than being a mother, and she dedicated every part of herself to giving her daughter opportunities to flourish.

Suzanne knew hardship, but never let it waiver her faith in God. She was born with a defective aortic valve that limited her ability to engage in physical activities her whole life. In 2012, Suzanne suffered a severe stroke that left her paralyzed on the left side of her body, and largely bedbound, for the last decade of her life.

The stroke may have crippled her body, but, until Suzanne’s last months, it had comparatively little effect on her mind. She retained a memory better than most around her. She kept involved with current events and politics. She was an avid Pete Buttigieg fan and followed his 2020 presidential campaign closely.

Suzanne had no grandchildren but thought of herself as Aunt Suzanne to the extended family of her longtime caregiver and friend, Zeinab Mohamud, providing money for pizza parties for the children during Eid and for their school supplies.

Suzanne lived and traveled all over the world during her lifetime, but ultimately, she left her heart, always and forever, in Tallassee.

Graveside service will be Sunday, October 6, 2024, at 2:00PM at Friendship Cemetery, Tallassee, Alabama. Ronnie Knight officiating.

Online condolences available: www.jeffcoatfuneralhome.com.

Jeffcoat Funeral Home Directing - Tallassee, Alabama