Susan Streeter Carpenter, a Yellow Springs novelist, poet, activist, teacher, spouse, sister, mother and a friend to many, has died at the age of 75 after seven years with Alzheimer’s disease.
In the introduction to a collection of essays she published in 1987, Susan wrote:
“In eighth grade general science I heard about the tree falling in the forest which makes no sound if no one is there to hear it; I thought it a terribly sad story. It probably was the beginning of my wish to have a column — a ‘sounding board’ is as good a term as any — of my own. When I crash to the forest floor, I intend to have made a noise.”
The noise she made was prolific, compassionate and bold: a deeply honest exploration of human relationships celebrated through writing, reading and teaching the joys of literature.
Over her lifetime, Susan was an anti-poverty worker, home health care administrator, independent radio producer, freelance writer and teacher of writing. Her syndicated column. “On the Edge of Town,” published in the Yellow Springs News from 1987–1990, is remembered fondly by many. She went on to publish dozens of poems and short stories and an historical novel, “Riders on the Storm,” about student activists in the late 1960s in Cleveland. When she retired from teaching in 2016, she had much more writing planned.
After graduating from Case Western Reserve University, Susan met her lifetime partner, Berch Carpenter, in 1969 while on a co-op in Philadelphia for a master’s degree in teaching from Antioch College. She taught for a year in a California high school, but decided to return to Yellow Springs and marry Berch. She worked for various social causes and became mother to Chad and Laura. She returned to writing and adjunct teaching at the college level in the late ’80s. In 2005 she was awarded her Ph.D. in English and comparative literature at the University of Cincinnati. Over her teaching career of 40 years, she taught at Antioch, Wright State, Sinclair, Wittenberg, and as a tenured professor at Bluffton University before she retired in 2016.
Along with her Yellow Springs News column, Susan produced, directed and hosted “The Bookshelf,” a weekly radio show on WYSO. She read her poetry for Women’s Voices Out Loud, sang with the World House Choir and directed the Antioch Writer’s Workshop for many years. She was a dedicated member of writers’ groups in Yellow Springs, the greater Ohio area and in Scotland, where the Carpenters lived for a short time.
Her fiction has received numerous awards, she published short stories in journals such as The Long Story, The Beloit Fiction Journal, Snake Nation Review, Kalliope, Crab Orchard Review and Best of the West ’09. Susan received an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize nomination and two first-place Westheimer awards from the University of Cincinnati, as well as a Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship in the Humanities for an early version of her novel.
Susan believed that sharing stories can reveal truths and build better communities. Whether campaigning for a political candidate, building lifelong friendships in writing groups or chatting with strangers on the street, Susan engaged people, passionately and with an open, curious heart. She loved to talk about big ideas, and about her own and others’ intense feelings and convictions. But she was opposed to dogmatism and polarization. When an interviewer asked her, “Why did you write a novel about the 1960s rather than a memoir?” she replied, in part, “A memoir about my life in 1968 would basically have only one narrator. I needed to construct a story with more than one voice, from several points of view. … The result was a kind of tapestry with characters coming to the fore and then fading back for a while. … That tapestry effect (rather than linear narrative with one narrator) reflects, I think now, my continued preference for participatory democracy.”
Along with Berch, Susan raised two wonderful children who share her commitment to family and humanity, who believe, as she did, in living life to the fullest, and who have brought her creative spirit into their respective professions of architecture (Chad) and the visual arts (Laura). She will be dearly missed by her loving husband of 50 years, Berch Carpenter; her sister, Barbara Streeter; brothers Tom and Martin Streeter; and her son, Chad Carpenter (Kara), and daughter, Laura Truitt (Justin); as well as three grandchildren, Desmond and Madeline Truitt and Helen Carpenter.
A memorial to celebrate Susan’s life is planned on Saturday, May 20, at the Vernet Ecological Center in Glen Helen, at 2 p.m. Gathering friends and family are encouraged to bring remembrances of her to share during the memorial, and all are invited to a reception at 1700 Spillan Road, Yellow Springs, following the memorial. If you are so moved, donations in her name could be sent to The 365 Project Citizens Action Reparations Fund, the365projectys.org, or the YS Equity Fund, ysequity.org.
I also do not recall knowing Susan Streeter (Carpenter). However, I am deeply moved by all her life's accomplishments, indeed by her attitude to life. Her final crash to the forest floor is heard for certain in Yellow Springs and indeed by us, her brothers and sisters of the '65 Heights High class, thanks to this invaluable website.
I knew Susan briefly in junior high when she befriended me in 7th grade during my one year at Roxboro. I remember her kindness, her exhuberance for life, and her very American family life which seemed ideal to a young immigrant girl from Germany. Rest in peace, Susan! A life lived well and with honor!
I knew Sue Streeter our last year or two at Heights. We dated a few times and I was very fond of her. She was kind, smart and perceptive. We reconnected at the reunion in 1995. Her daughter was with her and she, too was bright, perceptive and assertive as well. We stayed in touch briefly, as long distance friendships often succumb to the difficulties of distance. It saddened me to hear of her passing but even more so due to Alzheimer's. Sue was one of the smartest women I ever knew and I can't think of a worse ending for her. I know she is at rest now and I hope her family and friends can take solace in knowing she is remembered for the remarkable woman she was.
I knew Susan from second grade on through Heights. We lived far apart while at Roxboro elementary, so we were not playmates.She was easy to spot on the playground with her waist-length braids of the most beautiful, shiniest, darkest brown hair you'd ever seen. And I remember (barely) a birthday party at her house on Chestnut Hills Dr., as well as her Mom being a driver on a field trip - a Volkswagon bus! None of us had ever seen one in the mid fifties! In junior high we were nodding acquaintances. We nodded even less often at Heights. I always thought of her as a serious student, but easy to laugh, and her big smile was always at hand and easy to provoke. What a great, full life she lived!
Stephanie Katz (Farley)
Susan Streeter Carpenter
Susan Streeter Carpenter, a Yellow Springs novelist, poet, activist, teacher, spouse, sister, mother and a friend to many, has died at the age of 75 after seven years with Alzheimer’s disease.
In the introduction to a collection of essays she published in 1987, Susan wrote:
“In eighth grade general science I heard about the tree falling in the forest which makes no sound if no one is there to hear it; I thought it a terribly sad story. It probably was the beginning of my wish to have a column — a ‘sounding board’ is as good a term as any — of my own. When I crash to the forest floor, I intend to have made a noise.”
The noise she made was prolific, compassionate and bold: a deeply honest exploration of human relationships celebrated through writing, reading and teaching the joys of literature.
Over her lifetime, Susan was an anti-poverty worker, home health care administrator, independent radio producer, freelance writer and teacher of writing. Her syndicated column. “On the Edge of Town,” published in the Yellow Springs News from 1987–1990, is remembered fondly by many. She went on to publish dozens of poems and short stories and an historical novel, “Riders on the Storm,” about student activists in the late 1960s in Cleveland. When she retired from teaching in 2016, she had much more writing planned.
After graduating from Case Western Reserve University, Susan met her lifetime partner, Berch Carpenter, in 1969 while on a co-op in Philadelphia for a master’s degree in teaching from Antioch College. She taught for a year in a California high school, but decided to return to Yellow Springs and marry Berch. She worked for various social causes and became mother to Chad and Laura. She returned to writing and adjunct teaching at the college level in the late ’80s. In 2005 she was awarded her Ph.D. in English and comparative literature at the University of Cincinnati. Over her teaching career of 40 years, she taught at Antioch, Wright State, Sinclair, Wittenberg, and as a tenured professor at Bluffton University before she retired in 2016.
Along with her Yellow Springs News column, Susan produced, directed and hosted “The Bookshelf,” a weekly radio show on WYSO. She read her poetry for Women’s Voices Out Loud, sang with the World House Choir and directed the Antioch Writer’s Workshop for many years. She was a dedicated member of writers’ groups in Yellow Springs, the greater Ohio area and in Scotland, where the Carpenters lived for a short time.
Her fiction has received numerous awards, she published short stories in journals such as The Long Story, The Beloit Fiction Journal, Snake Nation Review, Kalliope, Crab Orchard Review and Best of the West ’09. Susan received an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize nomination and two first-place Westheimer awards from the University of Cincinnati, as well as a Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship in the Humanities for an early version of her novel.
Susan believed that sharing stories can reveal truths and build better communities. Whether campaigning for a political candidate, building lifelong friendships in writing groups or chatting with strangers on the street, Susan engaged people, passionately and with an open, curious heart. She loved to talk about big ideas, and about her own and others’ intense feelings and convictions. But she was opposed to dogmatism and polarization. When an interviewer asked her, “Why did you write a novel about the 1960s rather than a memoir?” she replied, in part, “A memoir about my life in 1968 would basically have only one narrator. I needed to construct a story with more than one voice, from several points of view. … The result was a kind of tapestry with characters coming to the fore and then fading back for a while. … That tapestry effect (rather than linear narrative with one narrator) reflects, I think now, my continued preference for participatory democracy.”
Along with Berch, Susan raised two wonderful children who share her commitment to family and humanity, who believe, as she did, in living life to the fullest, and who have brought her creative spirit into their respective professions of architecture (Chad) and the visual arts (Laura). She will be dearly missed by her loving husband of 50 years, Berch Carpenter; her sister, Barbara Streeter; brothers Tom and Martin Streeter; and her son, Chad Carpenter (Kara), and daughter, Laura Truitt (Justin); as well as three grandchildren, Desmond and Madeline Truitt and Helen Carpenter.
A memorial to celebrate Susan’s life is planned on Saturday, May 20, at the Vernet Ecological Center in Glen Helen, at 2 p.m. Gathering friends and family are encouraged to bring remembrances of her to share during the memorial, and all are invited to a reception at 1700 Spillan Road, Yellow Springs, following the memorial. If you are so moved, donations in her name could be sent to The 365 Project Citizens Action Reparations Fund, the365projectys.org, or the YS Equity Fund, ysequity.org.
Steve Jacobs
So sorry to hear of Susan's passing. While I did not know Susan, I feel a loss with the passing of every classmate. May Susan rest in peace.
Count your blessings. Life is precious and short.
Peace to all.
Anne Hooper (Webb)
I also do not recall knowing Susan Streeter (Carpenter). However, I am deeply moved by all her life's accomplishments, indeed by her attitude to life. Her final crash to the forest floor is heard for certain in Yellow Springs and indeed by us, her brothers and sisters of the '65 Heights High class, thanks to this invaluable website.
Rest in peace, Susan!
Anne Hooper (Webb)
Lynne Gerson (Maxwell)
Such a wonderful life of passion and devotion to family, community and craft! Dearly wish I had known Susan. May her memory be a blessing.
Shari Grischkan (Goodman)
I knew Susan briefly in junior high when she befriended me in 7th grade during my one year at Roxboro. I remember her kindness, her exhuberance for life, and her very American family life which seemed ideal to a young immigrant girl from Germany. Rest in peace, Susan! A life lived well and with honor!
Steven Freedman
I knew Sue Streeter our last year or two at Heights. We dated a few times and I was very fond of her. She was kind, smart and perceptive. We reconnected at the reunion in 1995. Her daughter was with her and she, too was bright, perceptive and assertive as well. We stayed in touch briefly, as long distance friendships often succumb to the difficulties of distance. It saddened me to hear of her passing but even more so due to Alzheimer's. Sue was one of the smartest women I ever knew and I can't think of a worse ending for her. I know she is at rest now and I hope her family and friends can take solace in knowing she is remembered for the remarkable woman she was.
Nancy Ford (Hall)
I knew Susan from second grade on through Heights. We lived far apart while at Roxboro elementary, so we were not playmates.She was easy to spot on the playground with her waist-length braids of the most beautiful, shiniest, darkest brown hair you'd ever seen. And I remember (barely) a birthday party at her house on Chestnut Hills Dr., as well as her Mom being a driver on a field trip - a Volkswagon bus! None of us had ever seen one in the mid fifties! In junior high we were nodding acquaintances. We nodded even less often at Heights. I always thought of her as a serious student, but easy to laugh, and her big smile was always at hand and easy to provoke. What a great, full life she lived!