Best Friend and Confident

A year Ago today on March 19, a day that burned a hole in my heart until time is no more

In Memory

Patricia Aileen Suttmann was born November 23, 1948, in Dayton, Ohio.

My sister, my best friend, made the Great Leap on March 19, year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four.

She is survived by her only sibling, Clement Charles Suttmann with hundreds of cousins and a niece, Mara Lea-Suttmann and two nephews, Noah Christopher Suttmann and Logan Nicholas Suttmann who she loved most. She was their pull toy.

There aren’t enough words in any language that could describe the number of people who loved her, her massive accomplishments in the fields of academics, professional careers, volunteer work, and fighting for the legal rights of abused mothers and children. Her work, on a volunteer basis with the University of Michigan Depression Center, probably remains the precedence.

She held two Master’s degrees, an MBA from the University of Dayton, a Master’s in City Planning from ‘that’ school in Columbus, Ohio and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Dayton. She served on the law review board for years at her almamater (and her favorite school), THE University of Dayton Flyers. She, her surviving sibling, Clement, her Mom and Dad, are all alumni of that same university. In fact, my sister actually graduated from the University of Dayton four times, since my Mom was six months pregnant with Trish when my Mom graduated.

Over all our years together, while we did not talk daily, we probably did five times a week. We remained the best of friends a sister and a brother ever achieved. One of my favorite memories is when she and I would climb out my old bedroom window at my parent’s farm, call Sugarbrush, in Southern Ohio, and drink adult beverages, and talk and talk and talk, all the while gazing at the splendor of a sky with no light pollution and stars by the billions. She was my confidant. Now she is among those very stars.

I am fortunate because I know exactly where she Is! She is without tears and pain (or that damn ileostomy pouch) which, despite being her worst fear for decades, she handled for years with grace and dignity.

She is embraced with all the Divine Love He offers, which is endless, and she is again with those she loved most, our Pop and Mom. Her incredibly strong faith was nothing short of exceptional. Her love of people endless. Her charity work with her time never ending.

To say I will miss her is the most massive understatement one could say. I also know I can now talk with her endlessly, like I do Mom and Dad, because where she is…

Absolutely anything is possible.

All my love Shorty, forever

Your ‘big’ younger brother

C