Susan Waterous Wagg
How do you know Susan? Please share your stories and photos, and help spread the word about this page!
Susan (Susie) Waterous Wagg died at her home in Hanover, New Hampshire, on November 28, 2020. Susie was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 26, 1938, to Virginia Frances (Stillman) and Chester Harding Waterous. She moved to Pepperell, Massachusetts, when she was two and remained there until she left for her junior and senior year at Abbot Academy in Andover. She attended Wellesley College and majored in History of Art. After graduating in 1960, she married Timothy Wagg of London, England. They moved to Montreal, Quebec, in 1961, following his graduation from Harvard Business School.
In her early years in Montreal, Susie briefly ran the Museum of Fine Arts program for the Protestant School Board. She then stayed home for a number of years to raise their two children, Sandra and Geoffrey. When they were in elementary school, Susie obtained a Master of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, specializing in Canadian architectural history.
Susie's love of architecture and architectural history led her and her family on many architectural pilgrimages. She traveled throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe, enjoying every manner of architecture from Sir Edwin Lutyens's Lambay Castle in Ireland to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Pittsburgh. She had a particular interest in Canadian architecture and used her gifts for research and writing to bring appreciation and recognition to several notable Canadian architects. She wrote four books: biographies of Percy Nobbs, Ernest Barrott, and Andrew Taylor, and Money Matters: A Critical Look at Bank Architecture?a wonderful collaboration between Canadian and American professionals (Susie particularly enjoyed working with Anne Wilkes Tucker, the curator of photographic works at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). She also co-authored several other books and articles on architects. Susie was elected to the Royal Society of Arts in 1987 for her work in bringing recognition to Canadian architects and architecture.
Susie was a loyal Abbot Academy/Phillips Academy alumna. She served as class secretary for decades, helped the Admission Office recruit Canadian students, and sat on the school's Alumni Council. In 2010, she received the Andover Distinguished Alumni Service Award, the school's highest honor for a volunteer, recognizing her work on behalf of the Academy.
In 1996, Susie and Tim retired to Hanover, New Hampshire. She spent every summer with her family on Squam Lake where she loved her daily swims and served as a trustee of the Chocorua Island Chapel Association, known locally as Church Island.
Susie is survived by her family who she adored: her husband of sixty years, Tim; her daughter, Sandra Jordan (Tony) of London, England; her son, Geoffrey (Alice) of Portland, Maine; and five grandchildren, Hannah and Amy Jordan, of London, England, and Nicholas, Emily, and Henry Wagg, of Portland, Maine.
A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. EST on Saturday, December 12 on Zoom. A link to the service will be available on the St. Thomas Episcopal Church website at https://www.saintthomashanover.org/. Donations may be made in Susie's memory to the Squam Environmental Preservation Fund or Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.
To view an online memorial and or send a message of condolence to the family, please visit www.rand-wilson.com
Arrangements are under the direction of the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover, NH.