Susan Catherine (Ford) Turcotte died peacefully at home in Wellfleet with her husband, Willie, by her side on May 7, 2023. She was 80.
The daughter of the late Catherine and Raymond Ford, Susan was born on Feb. 5, 1943 in Springfield, where she attended Commerce High School, graduating in 1961.
Visiting a neighbor when she was 15, Susan met Wilfred Turcotte. After a few years of dating, they were “going steady,” their granddaughter, Katie Silva said. Sue and Willie were married on April 28, 1962.
Soon after, they settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where Willie worked at IBM. After their children, Christopher and Teresa, were old enough to go to school, Susan worked as a bus driver for the Poughkeepsie schools.
Sue and Willie vacationed regularly on Cape Cod and fell in love with Truro. In the early 1970s, they decided to relocate to Truro permanently, and in 1978 they bought the Home Port Cottages in North Truro.
The cottages served a community of summer and full-time residents. Sue and Willie “loved to entertain in their yard,” Katie said. “They had community barbecues and pig roasts in the summer and set up a plastic pool for the kids. They used to play in it with us. They loved spending time with their grandchildren in their beautiful front yard.”
One year, she recalled, their yard was home base for family and friends to turn a flatbed truck into an elaborate float for the Truro Treasures parade.
Susan was a skilled and imaginative craftswoman; she made wreaths with seascape and holiday motifs, painted watercolors, crafted souvenir trinkets, made Christmas ornaments, and painted unique Christmas cards, which she sold at local craft shows and from a storefront attached to her house on Highland Road in North Truro, where she and Willie had moved after selling the cottages.
Later in life, Susan and her husband enjoyed traveling to Maine, where they spent most of their time in Boothbay and Old Orchard Beach
She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Willie Turcotte of Wellfleet; daughter Teresa Turcotte of Waldoboro, Maine; grandchildren Katie and Michelle Silva, both of Truro; and her lifelong friend Jackie Perry Mastrianna of Brewster.
Susan was predeceased by her son, Christopher “Turk” Turcotte.
The family expresses its thanks to Beacon Hospice, to whom memorial contributions may be sent in Susan’s name: 1060 Falmouth Road, Suite B, Hyannis 02601.
No services are planned.
