Remembering Susie Tennant, 1962-2024
Family and friends are remembering Susie Tennant and sharing this tribute with her community:
Susie Tennant, September 11, 1962 – January 18, 2024
Our beloved Susie Tennant passed away at her West Seattle home after several years living with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a progressive neurological disorder.
Susan Marie Tennant was born in Stuttgart, Germany, the third child and second daughter to Charles Edward Tennant (1937-2023) and Mary Jo (Sigler) Tennant (1938-present). As an army brat, between 1962 and 1980 she lived in Germany, Laos, Alabama, Kentucky, California, Arizona, and Virginia. She graduated from Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Virginia, then moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington like her grandmother “Sazzy” Sigler.
Susie and husband Chris settled in West Seattle in 1995, making their house (known as the Pirate Flag House) a home for their daughter Ella, son Eli, and many, many pets. The West Seattle community was held deeply in Susie’s heart. Susie popularized and branded the acronym WSHC (West Seattle Hardcore) as a beacon for community good. Susie championed all of the West Seattle schools where her children attended, and loved shopping at small businesses in the Junction, especially Husky Deli and Easy Street Cafe, where her children worked.
The most common words used next to Susie’s name — after mother and friend — are champion, advocate, and cheerleader. Many remembrances of her point out that people wouldn’t be who or where they are, and institutions wouldn’t exist, were it not for her support and generosity. She used her remarkable social skills not for self-gain, but to empower others and build community.
Her illustrious career encompassed, among others, Tower Records, Geffen/DGC Records (The David Geffen Company), Sub Pop, Experience Music Project (now MoPOP), KEXP, BMG, Town Hall Seattle, and The Vera Project. The last of those is an all-ages nonprofit space dedicated to community transformation through youth-driven engagement in music and art, which was a subject very close to Susie’s heart. When she was no longer able to work full time, Susie focused on improving her children’s schools. Her substantial community work and activism included Music for Marriage Equality, which played a pivotal role in legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington state, and co-founding the Ladies Who Lunch affinity group for hundreds of women professionals in the music and entertainment industry.
Some musical artists of whom Susie was an early champion, and whose careers she helped shepherd, include Nirvana, Weezer, Beck, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub, Hole, and myriad others. With a steadfast belief that great art deserves exposure, Susie insisted that commercial success didn’t have to clash with integrity, something which had seismic implications in Seattle as well as globally.
Susie loved Indian and Thai food (five stars, extra hot sauce), Freaks and Geeks, Nick Drake, thrift shopping with her daughter Ella, gardening, Betsey Johnson, frozen Snickers, big boots, Big Star, independent retail, WSHC, and Halloween. She could go from frenzied hilarity to loving therapist in a heartbeat, never resorting to negativity to score points or land a joke. Deeply committed to fairness, equity, and justice, she never tore someone down to lift someone else up. Susie was often in rooms full of famous musicians, but it was always clear who was the rock star.
Susie is survived by her husband Christopher Swenson, daughter Ella, son Eli, and mother Mary Jo, as well as her cherished siblings and loving adversaries Stephen Victor Tennant (Marianne Adames Tennant), the older and more handsome brother; William Glenn Tennant (Heather Milkman Tennant), the younger and fitter brother; and sister Catherine Tennant McGuire (Lee A. McGuire Jr.). She enjoyed 12 nephews, four nieces, eight great nephews, four great nieces, and counted 15 surviving cousins.
The best memorial contribution is to pay it forward Susie-style by sharing your knowledge, relationships, and love with friends and colleagues. Monetary remembrances can be made in her name to Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Healthcare Susie Tennant Memorial Fund (smashseattle.org/susie-tennant), Seattle Musicians for Children’s Hospital (smoochforkids.com), MusiCares (musicares.org), The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (theaftd.org) or the University of Washington’s Brain Aging and Dementia Research in the BRaIN Lab Fund (give.uwmedicine.org), where Susie made a legacy donation of her brain for research.
A public celebration of Susie’s life will be announced at a future date.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries and memorial announcements by request, free of charge. Please email the text, and a photo if available, to westseattleblog@gmail.com)
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