Albuquerque Journal - May 11, 2003
Philip Brooks Sussmann, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret), was born in Reading, Massachusetts on August 18, 1918. A born and bred New Englander, he was a thrifty, hardworking man who could turn his hand to most anything from re-plumbing the house to making furniture. His German born father, Rudolf Sussmann, and his mother, Mildred Leslie Brooks, a Mayflower descendant, were both educators. Under the tutelage of his father and great uncle, Alfred Boehm, he acquired an interest in nature and conservation, which instilled in him a life-long passion for the outdoors. His love of animals led to a variety of pets, including an orphan doe and a baby skunk who responded to love and attention by spraying Philip. He spent much of his childhood on his German Grandmother's farm south of Boston. Although the workday was dawn to dusk, he loved the farm because it was"so much fun." Since his aunts and uncles spoke only German, he became bi-lingual, a talent that proved useful when he was sent to Germany at the end of WWII. As a kid, he swam in Walden Pond, dug for clams on Cape Cod, went canoeing on the Concord River, and climbed Mount Washington and Jockey Cap many times. In the summer, he was a counselor at Camps Winona and Mollilocket, the latter a girl's camp his parents owned. Camping equipment always came from a little shop over the post office in Freeport, Maine run by a friend of his father's named L.L. Bean. He had broad knowledge of many things from building his own crystal radio set with 10 cents worth of parts from the original Radio Shack in a Boston basement, to extensive knowledge of Oriental carpets acquired during the years he worked in his Grandfather's importing business. He attended college at William and Mary then transferred to Penn State where he was a valued member of the ski team (competing in downhill, x-country, slalom and jumping). His final year was at Tufts and after receiving his B.A. in Physics he worked on the Manhattan Project before entering Cadet training for the Army Air Corps (later the U.S. Air Force) where he spent his career. While stationed at Avon Park, Florida, the young Captain defied the rules and courted and married a pretty Corporal named Natalie Sceets (whom he always called Bunny) in the summer of 1945. During his career, his various overseas assignments included Germany, Thailand, Vietnam, and Iran, the latter with a MAAG working with the Shah. He was with the Inspector General's office before joining the Contract Management Division, which brought him to Albuquerque. After his retirement in 1975, he turned his skills to volunteer work. He offered his business expertise to small businesses through SCORE and served as an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau. He was active in City and conservation issues for many years and often testified before the City Council. He served as President of the Albuquerque Chapter of the Sierra Club and was a founding member of the Open Space Alliance. Throughout his life he was generous in giving to charitable causes. He loved to play tennis and golf and was one of the first members (#43) of the Tanoan Country Club, though his golf stories were rarely about his prowess on the course and more about the birds or rabbits he saw or the squirrel that snatched a food from the golf carts. He was genuinely interested in people and had a talent for getting them to talk about themselves and would know their background, the names of their kids, and their favorite sport within minutes of meeting them. He was a loyal friend and neighbor, always ready to help whenever he could. During his last stay in the hospital, a nurse summed up who and what Philip was when she said,"He was always a gentleman." He died at home a few minutes before midnight on May 7, 2003 of congestive heart failure. His wife was holding his hand. He is survived by his widow Natalie; daughters Cynthia Gruver and her husband Chuck of Albuquerque; Pamela Stovall and her husband Steve of Fountain Valley, California; grandson Christopher Philip Harsh and his wife Theresa of Huntington Beach, California; and his cat, Button. He never lost his sense of humor, his curiosity of the world and of people and his ability to tell really bad jokes. Everyone who met him liked him; every one who knew him will miss him. Services will be held Tuesday, May 13,2003, 11:00 am at French Mortuary, 10500 Lomas with Chaplain Barabara Gatzweiler officiating. Interment will follow at Santa Fe National Cemetery at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in his name be made to the Heart Hospital of New Mexico Foundation, 504 Elm NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102.