| Here is the obituary, written by Susan's good friend Susan Bright. Please add to this memorial site by sending your remembrances to ric@moment.net |
| Obituary
by Susan Bright, which appeared in the Austin American Statesman,
February 16, 2002 On February 13 at 10:10 am, Susan Lee Campbell Solar died suddenly of complications of streptococcal pneumonia. She was a beloved friend to many and lived a rich and multi-faceted life as writer, artist, jeweler, video artist, environmental and social justice activist, green builder, educator, mother, sister and daughter. She is survived by: two daughters Pamela Purvis, an entrepreneur and CEO, living in Denver, Co and Camille Purvis, a Foreign Service officer with the United States Department of State serving at the US Embassy in Manilla; two sisters - Sarah Campbell, a national leader in transportation reform, and Wilda Campbell, who works in India for women¹s health care ; by her mother, Wilda Campbell who lives in Houston, Tx.; and by many, many friends and activists to whom she has been legend and mentor for thirty years. She was born, Susan Lee Campbell, on December 30, 1941 in Houston, Texas and grew up near Rice University. In1964 she graduated Cum Laude from the University of Texas Plan II Honors Program with Special Honors in English. Following this she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Vanderbilt University. She earned a Diploma in Sculputre at L¹Academie Royale des beaux arts de Bruxelles Belgium in 1967. Her first art work consisted of large fiberglass sculptures created in Belgium, which later evolved into the goddess jewelry forms which have gained international recognition under the name Ssymbols by Susanna Libana. In the early
late 60s and early1970s, two daughters were born to Susan and Hoyt
Purvis. The family lived in Washington, DC and then in Austin, Texas
on Wheeler Street. Their back gate opened to the Wheatsville Food
Coop, where she was an early member and nutrition activist. She
helped found InterArt Works, which employed more than twenty artists
to accomplish a wide range of public art programs in Austin and
performed with the improvisational, myth-based performing group
Pandora¹s Troubadours. She was the mother of the Energy Dragon,
a giant puppet which focused attention on environmental and In the 1980s, Susan moved from Austin to Fayetteville, Arkansas to be with her children and to work on a Master of Science Degree in Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. She continued to create and market goddess images. Susan lived in Dallas in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was Director of the Dallas Peace Center, a consultant for diversity at Richland College, and a trainer for peer mediation in the public schools through the Dispute Mediation Services. After returning to Austin in the 1990s, she worked at The Foundation for a Compassionate Society, creating and touring with "The Earth and Sky Women¹s Peace Caravan for a Nuclear Free Future, " a sky blue, second-hand, rebuilt RV, which served as a travelling museum and anti-nuke organizing tool. One project involved purchasing a share of stock in an area nuclear facility so she could attend stockholder meetings with the Radiation Rangers, a group of protesters in comic costumes. She also worked for Greenpeace and gathered members for the Volt-Revolters, a citizen group who refused to pay the percent of their utility bills that went to nuclear power. She organized Grandmothers and Others for a Nuclear Free Future and SMART Sensible Mothers Against Radio Active Transport. In 1994 she traveled to Guatemala to serve as body guard for Jennifer Harbury, who conducted a hunger strike in front of the Politénica in Guatemala City to obtain information about her husband Everado, who had been captured and executed by government forces. In 1998 she
was a write-in candidate for Governor of Texas for the Green Party,
changing her name to Susan Lee Solar for the occasion. She spent
one long weekend during the campaign incarcerated in the DelValle
minimum security jail for an arrest at a protest against Nuclear
waste dumping in Texas. In addition to her activist work for peace, gender equity, the environment and social justice, Susan was a video artist, dancer, and avid advocate of sustainable building. She was a land owner at La Tierra de los Pedernales, where a group of people are creating sustainable homes and a residential nature preserve. She generously helped others build straw bale homes, and designed a straw bale house for her land along the Pedernales River. Her first book "You Ask What Does This Mean, This Interest in Goddesses, Prehistoric Religions?" was published by Plain View Press in 1985. Her second book, "Quality of Mercy" about the death penalty in Texas is due out from Eakin Press in 2002. There will be a memorial ceremony for Susan at 1pm on Sunday, Feb 17, at Stacy Park in Travis Heights (the area adjacent to Lockhart and Eastside Streets). The service is just around the corner from her home, where friends are encouraged to add to the creation of a Home Altar in her memory. You can send Susan Lee stories and photos to a website being created in her honor via Ric Sternberg at ric@moment.net. Donations in her name may be sent to a list of organizations available from sbright1@austin.rr.com. Or call Susan Bright at 512-441-2452. |