Sue Louise McLeese

Sue Louise McLeese (née Stephenson) was born on Friday, 16 October 1936, the second of five daughters born to Mabel (née Adams) and Harold Stephenson, passed peacefully at Bobby’s Hospice on 5 March 2026. She grew up on Morgan Road in Glen Falls, attended Glen Falls Elementary School, and graduated from Simonds Regional High School in 1954. She then attended New Brunswick Teachers’ College in Fredericton, embarking on what would become a lifelong vocation: teaching.

Sue was, at heart and in practice, a teacher. She loved her elementary students and often spoke of them years later, delighting in meeting them as adults in the community. In a lovely full-circle moment, her former family physician, Dr. William Irving, had once been one of her students. Many former pupils have said she was their favourite teacher — perhaps because she treated each child as an individual and held them in genuine esteem. One of her favourite posts was at Rothesay-Netherwood School. Even into her eighties, Sue continued teaching by volunteering in Glen Falls Elementary School’s literacy programme.  Sue never failed to "help" people with their grammar mistakes.  

In 1960, Sue married James Albert McLeese. Together they began their family on the west side of Saint John, welcoming Brenda Jean, Philip Arnold Ian, Mary-Helen, and Ruth Patricia. In the late 1970s, the family moved to the Torryburn neighbourhood on Saint John’s east side, where Sue would live for the remainder of her life.

Her home in Torryburn allowed her to pursue her great love of gardening and wildlife. She spent countless hours planting, transplanting, and tending the flora on her property. She performed “hosta-ectomies,” expertly dividing and replanting hostas with confidence and care. Deer and birds were frequent beneficiaries of her apples and carefully set seed feeders. She delighted in recounting sightings of particular birds or describing the distinctive features of young deer — a broken antler here, a slight limp there.

Water was another lifelong love. An active member of the Rothesay Yacht Club in the 1970s and 80s, Sue organized and officiated regattas and races and was a member of the 1977 Canada Games Sailing team. She also loved swimming — not competitively, but faithfully — in local lakes and pools. She drove her daughters to practices and swim meets, billeted visiting swimmers, and well into her eighties could still be found swimming with her family at Hunter and Treadwell Lakes in Golden Grove.  Lily Lake, Fisher Lakes, and The Res were also favourite swimming spots.

Sue was an artist of considerable talent. She excelled at portraiture and particularly loved drawing the human form. Her home reflected her artistic sensibilities, adorned with pottery, paintings, photographs, prints, and woodwork. An accomplished seamstress, she generously volunteered her skills to local theatre productions and frequently collaborated with her daughter Brenda in theatre and film.

For Sue, family was everything. She loved to visit and to be visited. In later years, she co-hosted Sunday dinners and summer barbecues with Brenda, Mary-Helen, Ruth, and Jim. Christmas gatherings were joyous, expansive occasions filled with family, friends, and neighbours. She conveyed to her daughters a love of cooking, hospitality, and connection.

Sue and Jim were partners in life for many decades. Like any marriage, theirs had its challenges, but Sue often said what she appreciated most about Jim was that he was interesting — she was never bored with him. He shared with her articles he had read and books he was exploring. Sue herself loved reading and thoughtfully matched books to family and friends she believed would appreciate them.

She was, in every sense, a Renaissance woman — conversant in musicals, religion, politics, art, literature, and society. She could engage anyone in conversation and did so with warmth and intellectual curiosity. She had a positive word for everyone and an ability to find common ground with anyone she met.

Perhaps what defined Sue most was her deliberate choice to live positively. As a teenager, she experienced an epiphany and she made a conscious decision to not allow negative emotions to govern her life. From that day forward, she chose positivity, self-control, and generosity of spirit. She made a habit of telling others the good she saw in them. She imparted esteem. She held people in unwavering positive regard. This was the foundation of her excellence as a teacher — and as a human being.

Sue was the quintessential mother and grandmother. She loved her grandsons, Owen and James, beyond measure. “Nanny Sue” was also deeply loved by her grandnieces and grandnephews — Scott and Peter, Daphne and Donovan — and she took special interest in family friends’ children, including Lily and Harry; Reilly; and Judy Gallant’s grandchildren.

She leaves to mourn her beloved husband, Jim; her daughters Brenda, Mary-Helen, and Ruth; her sisters Phyllis and June; her grandsons James and Owen; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.

She was predeceased by her parents; her sisters Barbara and Helen (“Honey”); her infant son, Philip Arnold Ian; and niece, Dawn Louise Clifford.

If we could all live as Sue lived — with curiosity, generosity, discipline of spirit, and unshakeable positivity — the world would be a better place. Though the world feels poorer without her, her spirit endures in the many lives she shaped.

May her memory be a blessing, and may we live as she did.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Fundy Funeral Home, 230 Westmorland Road, Saint John, NB E2J 2G3; (506) 646-2424. The family will be holding a celebration of Sue’s life on Saturday 25 July 2026 at the Imperial Theatre (12 King Square S, Saint John, NB E2L 5B8).  Please save the date and your favourite stories of Sue. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Imperial Theatre, Saint John Theatre Company, Community Autism Centre Inc, or Bobby’s Hospice.  To leave online condolences please visit Fundy Funeral Home