Susan Debbie Wallace, 63, died Nov. 20 at her home on Bainbridge Island.

She was born June 23, 1943 in Oakland, Calif.

She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. There she met husband Cebe; they married in 1966.

They lived in Montana and Seattle before moving permanently to Bainbridge Island in 1971. In 1976, they built their Eagledale home and welcomed daughter Tegan.

Susan was a talented writer and cartoonist. Her orchard of heritage apple trees was a special pride, and she managed the acres around her home as a kind of private wildlife preserve. Each spring she delighted in the nesting swallows and the new crop of deer children.

She was a founding member of the Friday Tidies, the corps of volunteer gardeners who maintain the Bainbridge Library’s prize-winning grounds. She came late in life to heavy equipment.

Susan enjoyed gardening, birds, apple trees, poetry, gothic cathedrals, coffee and the English language. A certified teacher of English as a Second Language, she taught at Olympic College in Bremerton and briefly in Lin Hai, Zhejiang province, China.

She is survived by her husband Cebe and daughter Tegan; sister Carolyn “Anky” Cameron of Chico, Calif., and brother Web Johnson of Victoria, B.C.; and nephew Andrew Cameron and niece Eleanor Anderson.

A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Nov. 26 at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, followed by an open house potluck at her home, 5160 McDonald Avenue.

Those attending the open house are asked to park at Mac ‘n Jack’s Island Service, 4790 Eagle Harbor Drive, where a shuttle van will pick up the guests.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Nature Conservancy of Washington.

Arrangements by Kass & Cook Family Funeral Home.