Susan Marie Lynch Kruse July 4, 1935 – July 18, 2014

Our hearts are heavy to announce that Susan Kruse passed away peacefully on July 18 during a diagnostic procedure at Kaiser in San Jose.

She was brave and independent while surviving cancer since 2008.

She will be remembered as the kindest soul, who loved and cherished her family above everything: from grandchildren, to children, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and ancestors - no matter how distant. She loved hosting family at her home in Gilroy. Her great passion was to find all the connections in the family tree, and to show her kin how valuable those connections are. She leaves two children, Mimi Kruse Trenholme and David Kruse, three grandchildren, Thomas Trenholme, Grace Trenholme and Willa Campbell Kruse, whom she shared with Tom and Karen Kruse, also of Gilroy. She was preceded in death by her son Peter Kruse (2013) and her mother Hilda Lynch (2010).

Sue Kruse was born in Indianapolis, moved to Los Angeles in 1955 and then to the Bay Area to work for Lockheed. She moved to Gilroy over 40 years ago to co-found the Thomas Kruse Winery. She then worked many years for Garcia and Henry and later for the Gilroy Presbyterian Church. Until illness grounded her, she was an avid birdwatcher at the Uvas Creek Parkway.

Services will be held at the Gilroy Presbyterian Church, 6000 Miller Ave, Gilroy, CA 95020, Saturday, August 16 at 2 p.m. Donations in her memory may be made to: Friends of the Gilroy Library, c/o Gilroy Library, 350 W. Sixth Street, Gilroy, CA 95020 and Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (SCVAS), 22221 McClellan Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014.