Adele Suzanne Thompson McCoy Meredith was born February 11, 1943 to Vivian Willing and Monte Thompson in Freeport, Texas, where Monte worked for the Dow Chemical Company. When Dow’s plant there closed after World War II, the family moved to the Pacific Northwest where Monte took a position with the General Electric Company, first in Portland and then in Seattle. Settled near Carkeek Park in Seattle’s Blue Ridge neighborhood, Adele attended first and second grade at Crown Hill Elementary before her family moved back to Freeport, Texas.
Graduating from Brazosport High School in Texas in 1961, Adele returned to the Pacific Northwest for her freshman year at Lewis and Clark College in Portland and a summer job in Glacier National Park. She then transferred to the University of Texas, where she completed her sophomore year. The following summer, she worked as a legal assistant for her uncle in Bremerton, Washington and that fall transferred her studies to the University of Washington where she began using her middle name, Suzanne, pledging Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She graduated as a Senior Honor Woman with a B.A. in sociology and took a position in social work with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.
She and Bob McCoy met in college and married in 1966. They moved to Pensacola, Florida, where Bob entered the training command to become a naval aviator. Several other moves followed. Suzanne continued her social work in Mississippi and Texas until Bob received orders to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where Suzanne worked while Bob served as a ready replacement pilot, flying F-4 Phantom Jets from the naval aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal. Their son, Andy, was born in 1971. When Bob left the Navy in 1973, he accepted a sales position with the Caterpillar Machinery Company in Centralia, Washington. Suzanne worked for a mental health clinic while they were there. They made their home in Bellevue, Washington, starting in 1976, and Suzanne received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Washington. She and Bob divorced in 1984.
In 1985, Suzanne married John P. Meredith, a technical worker with the Industrial Engineering Department at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Everett, Washington. John and his two daughters, Diana age 16 and Page age 12, moved in with Suzanne and Andy. Suzanne continued her career as a social worker, a social service supervisor and program manager with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, retiring after 14 years. During retirement she enjoyed membership in PEO, an international women’s organization that sponsors women who are continuing their education. But her happiest times and most delightful moments were those spent with her grandson, Boris.
After undergoing two knee replacements, Suzanne was diagnosed in October of 2021 with pancreatic cancer, stage four. Following chemotherapy and two hospitalizations, she died peacefully in her home on March 17, 2022.
Suzanne is survived by her husband John P. Meredith, her son Andrew B. McCoy, her grandson Boris McCoy, her brother Ron K. Thompson, her sister Joy Lona, her niece Jana Thompson, her nephew Matt Thompson, her cousins Dr. William Princen, Thomas Princen, Janet Princen, and her six grandnephews and grandnieces.