Susanna D. Simpson

Susanna D. Simpson, former art librarian, died on December 19, 2015, in Sullivan, Maine.

(The following was published in the Gloucester Times on Dec. 22, 2015):

Susanna Simpson, age 88, died unexpectedly Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015, at her home. She was born in Vallejo, Calif., on Feb. 22, 1927, the daughter of the late Edward R. and Katherine (Shaw) Durgin. A Navy brat, she lived in Panama, Hawaii, and Berlin, Germany, where her father was the United States Naval Attaché before WWII. She attended Bryn Mawr College, leaving to marry her first husband, Waring Hopkins. They lived in Paris, where he attended the Sorbonne, and they traveled across post-war Europe on motorcycles.

During her second marriage to Joseph Petterson, Susanna lived on his sailboat the Seven Seas, on which he made a record breaking single-handed Atlantic crossing, with their two oldest children until moving to Castine, and raising five more children while he worked at Maine Maritime Academy. They developed many businesses together, including the Manor Inn and the Acadia Restaurant and Yacht Service.

Upon her third marriage to Robert W. Simpson, she lived in Brunswick and was the art librarian at Bowdoin College for many years until her retirement. They then made their home in Gardiner, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Hallowell until moving permanently to her husband’s family home in Sullivan.

She was predeceased by her husband, Robert, and her daughter, Sara K. Brouillard. Mrs. Simpson is survived by two sons: Robert E. Petterson (Carol) of Vero Beach, Fla., and Henry T. Petterson (Cindy) of Saint Jean de Duras, France; four daughters: Susanna S. Petterson of Sausalito, Calif.; Sabrina Babcock (Harold) of West Newbury, Mass.; Stacia Coughlin (Matt) of Hibbing, Minn.; and Saskia Amaro (Steve) of Beaufort, S.C.; her son-in-law Paul Brouillard of Castine; stepsons Daniel, Thomas and William Simpson; 12 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and several cousins.

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