Sue Aalerud

Memorial Service: Monday, August 16, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Terry.

Graveside Service: Prairie County Cemetery

Sue Rose (Earley) Aalerud, 80 years of age, of Wilmington, Massachusetts passed away on Friday, October 2, 2009, at the Sawtelle Hospice House in Reading, Massachusetts after a courageous four year battle with breast cancer.

Sue was born in Terry, Montana to Stanley Vernon and Helen Myrtle (Yarger) Earley in February of 1929 and has one brother, Robert L. and his wife Helen, of Columbus, Georgia. Sue lost both of her parents by the time she was 6 years old and subsequently left Montana. Sue was raised in Wakefield and Woburn. After high school she moved to Malden, MA where she met her husband, Robert. She attended Salem State College.

Of her many passions, some of her favorites included gardening and quilting, kayaking (which she remarkably learned at the young age of 78 and taught the same to her friends and family), being actively involved with the Wilmington Garden Club, the Wilmington Womens Club, and volunteering for 19-years at Winchester Hospital. Her most favorite past time was spending time with her grandchildren in all aspects of their lives including soccer games, piano recitals, birthdays, graduations, board games, gardening, kayaking and just chatting.

Sue cherished her many years as a homemaker and working as a kindergarten teacher at Brookside Kindergarten in Wilmington, MA, and later in life working at Atlantic Gelatin/General Foods in Woburn, MA until her retirement. Sue will always be remembered for her unwavering positive attitude, boundless reserves of energy, her incredibly warm and infectious smile, gracious appreciation and support of family and close friends throughout her life.

Sue leaves behind her husband Bob, with whom she shared 58 years of marriage, and her three children, Bill of Reading, MA, Ken and his wife Janet of Tewksbury, MA, Elaine and her husband Mark Wonson of Gloucester, MA and her daughter-in-law Karen of Winchester, MA as well as her loving grandchildren Claire, Alison, Charlene and her husband Brian King, Kenny, Eric, Tim, Emily and Lauren and her very special and dear lifelong friend, Neska Berthel.

A Memorial service will be held on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Terry. Interment will follow in the family lot of the Prairie County Cemetery.

Donations in Sues memory can be made to the Winchester Hospital Foundation, 41 Highland Avenue, Winchester, MA 01890, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, or Sawtelle Hospice House in Reading, MA.