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Susan Garson
July 7, 1955- September 26, 1975
Sister of Steve Garson
July 7, 1955- September 26, 1975
Sister of Steve Garson
707 439-5323
me@
stevegarson.com
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Andy, our peke and my sister Susan - Xmas 1974. This was in the living room of our childhood home at 624 Coventry Rd., Kensington, CA.
Susan at Kensington Hilltop Elementary School 1967
Susan ECHS grad. June 1973
Larger view you'll see the tree my dad and I would put together each season. It was one of those "space age" aluminum christmas trees with colored dots so you would know which branch to insert into holes in the "trunk".
Larger view Inside Outside
My sister had died under murky circumstances. At the time I was estranged from my family - I hadn't been home since I was just over 16 years old. I went on a hiking trip to Mt. Diablo and never came back. So I really didn't know what was going on with my family. Somehow they tracked me down and said that my sister was dead. 15 minutes later I was home to see my parents for the first time in almost 2 years.
My sister was working at a restaurant on San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley. The owners were from Argentina (?) and their son Alex was my sisters boyfriend. Susan was living with Alex, in an apartment down in the El Cerrito flats. She previously lived with a girl in Berkeley who I met at the funeral. So the story I got was...
Alex was abnormally possessive and jealous of anyone Susan was around. Other guys, girlfriends and even my parents. Seems he wasn't happy unless she was cloistered away in the apartment. Physical abuse seemed to be part of the intimidation.
She died from Strychnine poisoning or "rat poison" that she had or was forced to consume. It produces some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction and ends with curling of feet and spine until death - the body "freezes" immediately, even in the middle of a convulsion, resulting in instantaneous rigor mortis. Police had found she had withdrawn most of her money from the bank about $400 the day before. She had packed bags in the closet. She obviously was planning to fly the coop from this creep. She had bruises over both her arms. Alex had explained this to the police that he had yanked / pulled her to the phone to call our mom in an argument. It was like "well call her then!" As I said previously he didn't want her to have any outside contact. He claims he left soon afterwards. Without enough evidence to hold them he was released.
He claimed to have loved her. What was I to know - this was all knew to me. I don't know if my parents knew what to think - my dad never liked him. My mom was suspicious but still communicated with him and his family. That's all she had left. He even came to the funeral and carried on at her casket until someone pulled him away. Years later my mom found out from his parents that Alex went back to South America and supposedly tried to commit suicide and got his face wrecked up.
Well, sis was gone. Mom went into a bit of a tail spin for a couple of years - she and Susan were very close - maybe too close, but you can never tell that to a mother. I felt Susan was too cloistered - I had jumped ship early. Home wasn't always the most peaceful place - money was always a problem. We were living somewhat above our means in expensive Kensington. I learned early on, and my sisters death reassured me, that you have the power in yourself to leave a negative environment and create your own postive one. You need to control your own destiny or others will!
I had went on into the Army and in Ft. Lewis, WA. I took many off-base classes. One of those was Sociology of Death and Dying with Kübler Ross model 1969 (5 stages of death) as one of our study books. Even with a tough upbringing my parents, especially my mon, instilled a sense of knowledge quest and betterment. I didn't fully understand my mom's extended grieving - so I thought I have to learn more - maybe I could help her. So I imparted some of my new found knowledge with phone calls and with letters to my mom. I think it helped a lot in her recovery and put my dad's mind a bit more at ease. Kübler Ross home page - she died in 2004.
Seeing how well that worked set the course for my own future - from knowledge you learn about the unknowns, the fears and maybe come up with postive answers and therefore can become stronger and better able to command one's course in life.
Some heavy lessons learned at the raw age of 19. After floundering around for the last 2 years I seemed to have a mission. Without my sister alive I seemed to have a responsibilty to myself and parents to better myself and make up for lost time. I went on a rampage - was top jock in my basic training platoon. Was the honor grad in my electronics training class at Ft. Jackson and so on...see the story continue in more of these web pages.
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• August - Sept. 27, 1975
Steve at Erik Elliott's house (friend of Mike Wilbur).
• Kensington Map Link 1
• Sept. 26, 1975
Funeral for my sister Susan at Sunset Cemetary, Kensington.
• Sept. 27 - Dec. 30, 1975
Steve b ack home to 624 Coventry Rd., Kensington, CA until I went into the service.
• Kensington Map Link 1
Me (Steve Garson) and sis in 1960 back at our grandparents in South Dakota.
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Sunset View Cemetery SVC
101 Colusa Ave., El Cerrito, CA. 1975 brochure Cvr Inside with room services were held. History of SVC. Link 1
The funeral was beautiful. My mom had the soloist sing "Ave Maria" which was very moving.
Updated: Sun 12/30/07 11:43 PM
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