Remembering Susan Starr on All Souls Day

Susan Starr with Puppets

It is with sadness that we must share the news of the recent passing of LANA member Susan Starr – beloved daughter, sister, teacher, mentor, and friend, who crossed the threshold on her 73rd birthday, March 20, 2023, in La Mesa, CA.

Susan was devoted to the lyre and was a supporting member of our Lyre Association for many years.  During those years, she enthusiastically participated in LANA conferences whenever she could to further her musical experience and education.

Susan Starr, Lyre Day 2021, with children playing the lyres Now donated to Lana

As a beautiful example of her generous nature, Susan donated the following lyres to the Lyre Association of North America through her estate, to be used in our Lyre Rental service to members:

• Tir-anna extended soprano lyre

• Rose lyre

• Auris pentatonic children’s lyre

• Gaertner 12-string diatonic lyre

The following account of her memorial service and life sketch was recently sent to us by a good friend of Susan’s, and we would like to share it with all of our members and friends:

Susan's memorial service filled the auditorium of the Waldorf School of San Diego with well over 100 in attendance. Friends from her school days in Chula Vista, her fellow teachers, students, and their parents as well as Anthroposophical Society members and her extended family shared memories of her many loving and thoughtful deeds. It was especially memorable to hear stories of Susan’s early life from her father. Susan's legacy to us all is the generosity of her "willing", her "doing", and her open-heartedness. 

Susan was born to Yvonne and Don Starr, March 20,1950, in Chula Vista, CA. She was the second of three children.  She attended Hilltop High School and graduated from Southwestern University in Chula Vista with a major in Humanities in 1972.  From there, she spent seven years living in British Columbia, Canada, where she discovered anthroposophy and the Christian Community. She was attending Simon Fraser University as a Kinesiology major when she became interested in early childhood education and eurythmy. She decided to pursue eurythmy training.  She met and married a fellow eurythmy student. After her marriage ended, she completed the Waldorf kindergarten training.  In 1985, she was a pioneering faculty member of the Early Childhood Program at the Princeton, New Jersey Waldorf School, where she stayed until 2002.

Susan eventually returned to San Diego and taught for a year at the Sanderling Waldorf School before moving to the Waldorf School of San Diego, where she was the lead teacher in the Rosemary Kindergarten until 2014.

She went on to mentor Waldorf kindergarten teachers and families all over the US and in China.  She was known by everyone for her incredible talent and generosity in puppetry arts.  She shared puppet making and puppet shows every chance she got.

Susan learned to sail from her father, who has since followed Susan across the threshold on September 19, 2023.  She loved to take friends out for a sail on the San Diego Bay.  She was a talented singer and lyrist, even playing lyre in her apartment courtyard for neighbors during the lock down. She gained permission from her landlord to plant beautiful flower gardens all around her apartment complex.  She sang with an a cappella group in which her mother had also sung when she was alive. She was an award-winning equestrian in her youth.  She was a vegetarian and supported many charitable causes, including animal rights groups. Every year she walked to raise money for the Anthroposophical Prison Outreach. 

Susan was a wonderfully gifted and generous-hearted friend.  She is dearly loved and greatly missed.

Some further personal reflections follow here:
From Heide Radcliff, Princeton Waldorf School, NJ
Susan was the hardest working kindergarten teacher that Princeton Waldorf School ever had. She was essential in building up the N-K program at the Princeton Waldorf School. 

Susan had 24 students and managed her class and each child with great sensitivity and skill. Each child received a hand sewn doll or figure for his or her birthday. When my daughter lost her Mashenka, Susan had the “Gnomes” make another one for her, and it was not even Karla’s birthday when this occurred.

Susan had each child in her heart and suffered when she felt that a child was not taken care of in the most nourishing and healthy way. In the early mornings, Susan even assumed care for a little boy until he was picked up by the school bus to get him to his special school. 

Susan made the role of being a kindergarten teacher into her life while she was in Princeton. 

From Diane Barlow, Princeton Waldorf School, NJ
Our dear Susan. My fondest memories were when she was teaching in a rented church space, and on some Fridays, she had to pack up her entire classroom to make way for church-sponsored activities. She was so devoted to the children and the program that she did this without complaint, even though it was a big deal. 

From Sheila Johns, LANA member and fellow teacher in Mainland China
Susan had a great love for the lyre, though she always regarded herself as a student.  She participated in many conferences of the Lyre Association as well as the Association for Waldorf Music Education because she was passionate about music and self-education.  Although not an official host, when AWME held summer conferences at the San Diego Waldorf school, Susan made herself available to help and support our efforts in every way possible. When Andrea Lyman, president of the Association for Waldorf Music Education, and I traveled to China in 2016 to initiate the first formal training in Waldorf Music Education there, we were delighted to find that Susan was staying in the kindergarten building where we would be teaching, having proceeded us by several weeks.  She enthusiastically ‘showed us the ropes’ in many of the practical areas that were foreign to us, for which we were deeply grateful, and both Andrea and I were impressed with the natural authority and genuine respect that she had earned from Chinese kindergarten teachers not only in the south where we were, but throughout China, where she was well-regarded and invited for return visits. I saw a whole new side to Susan during the time we were together in China.  It has been lovely to reflect on this experience, as it ended up being the last time I saw her.

Susan’s love for life, for music, and her devotion to the protection and nurturing of the children who crossed her path over many decades will be a legacy that will live on well past her many years of service here on earth.  Especially at this All Soul’s time of the year, we are remembering Susan and feeling blessed to have had her as a colleague and a friend.