Susan Reid

On Tuesday 20th May 2025 Happy Daze set off from where she is moored in the Town Dock in Torquay with two other yachts each filled with close family and friends to Sue's requested final resting place. She had hoped for a sunny day to mark the occasion and the weather was perfect with calm seas, light winds, clear blue skies and warm sunshine to lift everyone's spirits as they bade their last good byes.

Sue's brother Dave gave a short eulogy as she was committed to the sea:

"Firstly, I would like to thank you all with extraordinary depth of gratitude for gathering with us today. Particular thanks to Kelvin and Shirley for supporting Phil enormously with the arrangements, and I am certain all gathered friends in a myriad of significant ways. Secondly, I beg your forgiveness in advance if I need to take a moment as I progress through my prepared words. I will blame the radio, but like many today I suspect the emotion of the occasion will doubtless have caught up with me. In Sue’s mind, which pervades in all our thoughts as we reflect upon her passing, today, (as I'm sure she will have discussed with many, if not all here), she wished to be all about celebration.
Celebration of a life she lived with fierce passion for her keen sense of what was right, and what she knew and felt deeply was wrong in the world. Celebration of a life lived with humility also, boundless caring for those she loved, and the cheekiest sense of humour the world is now a regrettable margin dimmer for having lost. Celebration of a life so cruelly cut short when she should have been reaping the benefits of all that she had sown merely by her being, to make the world a better place.
We will surely honour that wish, but doubtless Sue would forgive us some sadness and our mourning at the loss of the unique and fabulous human being that she was.
Let our thoughts and prayers first turn therefore to Michael, our father, who has suffered a loss no parent should ever have to endure. He takes comfort in knowing that Sue is now with her wonderful and deeply loved mother, Kay who we lost equally cruelly to cancer far too young, when she was aged only 59. Our love, respect and profound gratitude is also with Estelle today, Michael’s rock and beloved wife, as the tireless support she gave him, enabling his support in equal measure to his dear daughter as they each battled cancer continues unabated.
If you've a mind to spare a moment for my brother Paul and I, our wives Elise and Debbie, and Sue's nephews Daniel and Luke. Our thoughts and hearts are with you all knowing so keenly the joy you will have been denied in having been robbed of Sue's friendship before she was able to have the health and time to enjoy your company to the full.
But mostly and without compare, our thoughts, hearts and attention should be with Phil, as I know they have been since the moment Sue was taken from us in early March, mercifully peacefully and as she had wished at home with Phil by her side. She could not have hoped for a more stalwart, loving and supportive partner than her precious ‘Philly’ and whilst it is not within your massive heart to ever seek recompense of any kind Phil, it must be noted how limitless is the debt of gratitude we all owe you for the love and care you afforded Sue throughout your too short a time together, and not least in her final months, weeks and days. The hole that has been left in your life for which you and Sue had so many fabulous plans together is immeasurable and try as we all might I know we will be unable to even remotely fill it. We will do our utmost however Phil, for the love of the wonderful person that you are as much as in honour of the memory of Sue and fulfilment of her wishes.
I turn back to Sue’s wish however for today to be all about celebrating life, and the 62 years we were gifted to have her sunshine smile amongst us all. So, as we commit her to her final resting place among the ‘fishees’ as she loopily described it and in sight of one of her favourite spots which gave her so much comfort and joy in her years in Brixham, please reflect not on all that we have lost, but all that we gained in having Sue as part of our lives. She wanted it this way and we will not fail her. So please now raise your glasses in a toast to Sue and all that she was and continues to be in all our hearts: ‘To Sue’. Rest in peace."

The destination of the breakwater of Brixham harbour was a favourite spot of Sue's and had been her express wish as the location for her life to be celebrated and her remains to be scattered.

Sue was born on Christmas Day 1962 to proud parents Michael and Kay Manners. Michael recalled being asked by Kay to drive him to the hospital urgently as she felt birth was imminent. Knowing better after the experience of their first born ‘taking hours’ Michael first shaved, then got underway through a light dusting of snow in his father’s car to drive the 20 minutes to the Churchill Hospital in Oxford where Kay was safely handed over to the midwifery team at 0910. Men not being welcome in those days Michael left to have breakfast at his parents house and later went for drinks with his father John at his club, only to be regaled by the midwife when he rang around midday to inquire how Mrs. Manners was doing to be informed Sue had been born not 10 minutes after he had left! Sue joined her year older brother Paul, and in 1966 greeted her younger brother David. Sue was extremely bright but didn’t rub up well against rules so her school life was successful but not entirely enjoyed. On leaving secondary school she went on to study catering at a further education college in Oxford as she enjoyed cooking having been taught well by her mother. She didn’t enjoy or get on as well with the business side of the course so it was no small irony that she went on to qualify and be very successful as a Management Accountant! Sue married young and took her husband’s family name. She had determined she did not wish to have children early on in her life and thus enjoyed a convivial lifestyle with a large number of good friends who shared the same passions for motorcycles and rock music. Sue pursued a lifelong ambition to move to the coast when a mutual decision to divorce from her husband was reached and she relocated from the landlocked Swindon area where she had lived during her married life, to Brixham. Here she took an interest in making the most of her new location to learn to sail, and met Phil who fortuitously was the proud owner of a 38′ yacht, and soon was supporting her with her new passion for being on, not just next to the sea! Sue and Phil thoroughly enjoyed their time together and spent many joyful times on Phil’s aptly named yacht ‘Happy Daze’. They decided to enter into civil partnership some time into their relationship and were able to enjoy seventeen wonderful years together. Sadly Sue’s plans to further sail the world with Phil and enjoy a long and adventurous retirement were cruelly cut short when she was diagnosed with cancer. Sue fought the disease with enormous courage, determination, grace and good humour, but ultimately succumbed in the small hours of 5th March 2025 at home with Phil at her side.

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