Suzanne Goucher Obituary (1954 - 2022)

MANCHESTER-A remarkable woman left this world way too early on January 19th following a brief illness. The youngest of five children, she was born Suzanne Denise Goucher in Lewiston, ME to John and Mary Goucher on March 8, 1954. She was the loving wife of Charles Colegrove for 37 years. They made their home in Manchester, ME. Suzanne was preceded in death by her sister Mary Macomber and her brother John Goucher Jr. The nation is mourning her loss. For 28 years, Suzanne was the President and CEO of the Maine Association of Broadcasters (MAB), starting there as a part-time Executive Director and their only staffer. During her tenure, MAB amassed a healthy reserve fund and won several important legislative and regulatory battles. Prior to joining MAB, Suzanne was the News Director at WFAU-AM and WKCG-FM, Augusta. She also served as co-chair of the Maine Business Association Roundtable, and as President of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. She was a member of the Right to Know Advisory Committee, a state panel that works on FOI/FOA issues. She once said, “Every step our government takes toward confidentiality is a step away from freedom.” Suzanne also served on a subcommittee of the FCC’s Communication Security Reliability and Interoperability Council. A highly respected and beloved leader among broadcasters nationally, she was the former President of the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA) and a nationally recognized expert on the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Amber Alert Program. At the time of her death, she was serving as Chair of NASBA’s EAS Committee, and had testified on EAS and the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System in front of two Congressional Committees. All of her efforts developing the alert systems were made to assure the safety of Americans by providing the information they needed when they needed it. A graduate of Marshwood High School in Eliot, ME, she was among the first women to attend Babson College where she received her BA in Economics and Communication, as well as a certificate from the Publishing Laboratory at Sarah Lawrence College. In her earlier years, she was a freelance writer, script writer, producer, and on-camera talent. She was the CEO of the Executive/Legislative Nomination Committee of the General Assembly in Hartford, CT. As assistant to the Editor in Chief at AVI Publishing Co., she coordinated production from manuscripts to finished books. Suzanne was Production Supervisor and Writer/Editor at the Brooks Community papers in Westport, CT, including the Fairfield Citizen News. All of these accomplishments aside, she loved to cook, garden, and travel, was so much fun, and one of the most loving, generous, and kind individuals to walk the face of the earth. She made each and every one of her friends and colleagues feel special. As one of her dearest friends said, “Suzanne was the best friend in the world. While there is no award for that, those who loved her and were beneficiaries of her love and friendship were the ones who got the awards. She loved completely. She would literally do anything for those she cared about. I could give examples but they don’t compare to the true generosity of spirit Suzanne had.” Suzanne had a collector’s eye, her love of history and antiques serving her well as the caretaker of the Sayward-Wheeler house in York Harbor, ME with her husband Chuck in the mid-eighties. As a lover of music, she always arrived with a song in her heart and a refrain on her lips. She was at one point the only female tenor in the Sweet Adelines Royal River Chorus, and for years thoroughly enjoyed her spring and winter concert performances with the CODA Chorus in Winthrop, ME. As the first voice of the Sea Dogs baseball team, she called the Portland games from the grandstand and reveled in leading the crowd in rousing renditions of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. From barbershop bebopping to harmonizing with her family at the kitchen sink, she could easily have been the long lost fourth Andrew Sister, a true Boogie Woogie Bugle boy of Company B! “She was so damn funny” said one of her besties. Her distinctive laugh, her declaration at every gathering that she WAS the par—tayyy, and her repertoire of B-Movie quotes was only marginally surpassed by her comedic timing and her pitch perfect impression of Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp. And if you were ever given a chance to be on her Trivial Pursuit team, you took it! An avid golfer, she played the course twice at St. Andrews in Scotland --a life-long dream. A leader in everything she did, she was Chair of the Turner Highlands Ladies League and their resident expert on game rules. She was Publicity Chair for the commissioning of the USS MAINE in Kittery in 1995. Suzanne’s coverage of that 11 day event brought thousands of people out to line the banks of the Piscataqua River to welcome the State of Maine’s Trident submarine. She also founded the Maine Chapter of the Sweet Potato Queens, called the Maritime Maidens. The group once travelled to Jackson, Mississippi for the Sweet Potato Queens’ annual celebration of all things sweet and girly. She is survived and sorely missed by her husband Chuck, his daughter Charlyn and husband Garry and his grandsons Charlie and Allen; her sister Sally McKay of Amesbury, MA; her sister Cathy Goodwin and husband Mike of Eliot, ME; brother-in-law Mac Macomber of Coral Springs, FL; and her nieces and nephews: Fran Reilly and her daughters Samantha and Rowan of Coral Springs; Keith Macomber and his daughter Regan, of Coral Springs; Ali, Ben, and Carole Goodwin of Eliot; Gabby Goodwin and her son Drew of Holderness, NH; Ian and Graham McKay of Amesbury, MA; Molly and Dean Jewett and their children Maisie, Dean III and Penn of Amesbury; and Kate and Jeff Bratz and their daughter Pippa of Amesbury. She treated them all as if they were her own children, showering them with love and affection; as well as her many dear friends and colleagues. The celebration of her life will be held in late spring in Augusta. For details, please contact her sister Cathy at wingoodcat@gmail.com. Arrangements are in the care of Knowlton & Hewins Funeral Homes and Cremation Care, One Church Street, Augusta, ME where memories and condolences may be share with the family at www.khrfuneralhomes.com