Susan Dean, beloved and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, died October 8, 2015, in Concord, Massachusetts, following a long illness. She was born June 16, 1938, in Elmira, New York, the eldest of three daughters of Lee and Dorothy MacFeiggan, and she grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, where she attended local schools. Susan studied at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, before moving to New York City, where she attended Katharine Gibbs School and then worked for Conde Nast publications, including Glamour and Vogue magazines. Relishing the excitement of early 1960s New York, it was there she met Edwin (Ed) Dean, formerly of St. Paul, Minnesota. Thus began a devoted and loving marriage of 53 years characterized by a shared love of family, pets, books, museums, travel to England, Holland, and Germany, driving the country roads of New England, and especially family vacations at Squam Lake, New Hampshire. Susan and Ed moved to Farmington, Connecticut in 1964 where she worked as Assistant to the Curator of Paintings at the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford. In Farmington, they had two children, Nathaniel (Chip) and Stephany. They then relocated to Concord in 1976, first living on Monument Street and then at Concord Greene. Always a gardening enthusiast, Susan earned a graduate certificate in landscape design from Radcliffe College in 1983. She then opened her own landscape design practice in Concord where she specialized in creating beautiful English country gardens out of the rocky New England soil. Not content to only select plants and direct their installation, she could often be seen working side by side with the crews on her job sites, expertly and energetically wielding a shovel or a pitchfork. In addition to her business, she worked winters as an assistant in the Harvard Graduate Admissions Office where she provided a sympathetic and patient ear to anxious applicants. Susan was an intellectually curious person, a determined progressive, a voracious reader, a collector of illustrated children's books, and she loved the music of Diana Krall, whom she saw perform on two continents. In more recent years, her interests turned to the pursuit of craft hobbies – above all knitting. Not only did she enjoy the company of her fellow enthusiasts while making beautiful patterns and countless stuffed animals, she became interested in the spinning and dying of wool, as well as the sheep that produced it. For all who knew her, one of her most defining characteristics was that of the extrovert. Susan loved meeting new people of all ages and backgrounds, and took great satisfaction in connecting others with shared interests. She made friends everywhere, especially through her business, her hobbies, at Rockywold-Deephaven Family Camps on Squam Lake, and in her neighborhood of Concord Greene, where she was co-head of the Garden Committee. Defiantly young at heart and in spirit, she took special pleasure in making friends with young people, including the children of her dearest friends, and the friends of her children and grandchildren. Susan was also a lifelong animal lover, especially of cats, of which she had dozens over the years, and also one peekapoo dog. Her most recent enthusiasm was for seemingly ever-larger Maine Coon Cats, upon whom she doted. The squirrels of Concord Greene, whom she fed outside her home, also feel her loss. Most important of all, however, were her family and her friends. She was devoted to her late parents. All who were fortunate to call her wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, were warmed by her tremendous love, her encouragement, her fierce loyalty, her unbounded energy, and her irreverent sense of humor. In addition to her husband, her rock and often bemused participant in her enthusiasms (such as attending sheep festivals), she is survived by her beloved children, her son Chip and daughter-in-law Anna Dean of Washington, DC, and her daughter Stephany Dean and her partner Doug Sommers of Grafton. Susan's greatest joy of all was being "GaGa" to her two treasured granddaughters, Abby White of Concord, and Elizabeth (Lissy) Dean of Washington, who also survive her and who shared her love of animals and crafts, especially beading and making "fairy houses" out of items found in the woods. She is also survived by her sisters, Jane Ertman of Hyde Park, New York, and Nancy Dillon of Westford, who shared her love of crafts and travel, as well as many cherished friends, especially Maud Walker of St. David's, Pennsylvania, and Ellen Matheson of Concord. A memorial service will be held at the First Parish Church, 20 Lexington Road, Concord Center on Tuesday, October 27th at 11 am. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a donation in Susan's memory might consider doing so to the animal welfare organization of their choice. While Susan loved all animals, her most recent enthusiasm had been for supporting the work of The Donkey Sanctuary located in Sidmouth, Devon, England (www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk). Now with her loving parents, generations of beloved pets vie for space at her side. Arrangements are under the care of the Dee Funeral Home of Concord.