Claeys, Suzanne
CLAEYS (MCLAUGHLIN),
Suzanne Ruth
Suzanne Ruth McLaughlin Claeys, age 80, passed away July 7, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. She will be remembered as a devoted wife, mother, sister, grandmother (Mimi), teacher, lifelong learner, traveler and creative.
Born September 23, 1942, in Tampa, Florida, she was the second child of Ruth DePass McLaughlin and Randolph McLaughlin. At 14, she lost her beloved father, but his passion for the Catholic Church and for education shaped her future. She always believed one could learn to do anything if one could read and had a book (and later the internet).
She graduated from Landon High School in Jacksonville, Florida, and the University of Florida, where she was a cheerleader, a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and a Latin and Greek major. She also held a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology, Media and Design from the University of West Georgia.
She met her husband Robert (Bob) Claeys on the University of Florida campus outside of the Catholic Center and to this day Bob describes how beautiful she looked in vivid detail. They were married January 11, 1964, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and she began teaching Latin at Lee High School in Jacksonville. Soon they started a family.
They moved to Atlanta in 1971. During the mid-1970s, she opened and ran Suzanne's Needle Arts of Atlanta in Buckhead's Limelight shopping center and was active in the Save the Fox Theatre campaign. She later relocated her business to Vinings. She taught young and old how to knit, crochet, and do various types of needlework. She also shared her fine work through commissions and passed her love of the needle arts to her children and grandchildren.
Suzanne became a top seller of World Book Encyclopedia in the mid-80s.
With two of her children in college, Suzanne and Bob moved to Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, allowing their youngest to pursue competitive figure skating and expanding Suzanne's artistry to designing costumes. Later in life, she picked up her needle and thread for her loved ones and saw her creations on the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, international ballet competitions, weddings, and other celebrations.
Suzanne and Bob returned to Atlanta in 1997 and became parishioners at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Suzanne returned to teaching and taught English and Latin at Sutton Middle School, Inman Middle School and Crabapple Middle School. She retired from teaching in Atlanta area schools to homeschool her grandchildren during summers and year round.
Suzanne was grateful to travel with Bob to Russia, China, Singapore, Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, South America and the Caribbean and to be joined by children and grandchildren for many of these adventures. She also enjoyed adventures closer to home and annual beach trips surrounded by those she loved.
Suzanne is survived by her husband of 59 years, Bob; children, Caroline "Carrie" Thompson (Mark), Robert Claeys, Jr. (Elizabeth), Alice Sue Claeys; and grandchildren, Taylor Claeys, Sydney Claeys, Charles Claeys, Benjamin Claeys, Sarah Serena Thompson, and Phoebe Rose Claeys; her sister, Edith McLaughlin LeBas and her brother Randolph McLaughlin.
A Funeral Mass will be held in St. Mary's Chapel at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on August 19, 2023 at 10 AM. The family welcomes everyone attending to celebrate her life in color, and not basic black. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Holy Spirit Catholic Church, American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
