Susan Coleen Garrity

RALEIGH – Susan Coleen Garrity, 74, passed away on Friday, October 13, 2023, at her home surrounded by her family.

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A dedicated philanthropist and leader, Susan spent the last 35 years nurturing the growth of the arts and community in Raleigh.

Susan believed in the power of community spaces to bring people together as neighbors and friends, especially spaces with historical significance. Most recently, Susan devoted her time, energy, and vision to the Legacy Committee of the Dix Park Conservancy, and its Oral History and Sites of Conscience work groups. She saw the diversity of the groups whose families and lives were touched by the land that is now Dix Park, and went back to school at the age of 70 to better honor their stories, earning a master of arts degree in oral history from Columbia University in 2021.

Susan believed in the power of the arts to enrich communities and individual lives, and believed that all should have equal access to the arts. She served as chairwoman of the board for North Carolina Arts in Action and was instrumental in its expansion; its dance, music, and performance-based program now reaches 1700 fourth graders a year in Wake, Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties. She was a member and board member of Raleigh Fine Arts Society, and enthusiastic founding supporter of Carolina Ballet.

Susan was committed to being a good citizen, neighbor, and friend. She canvassed for candidates who she felt best demonstrated generosity of spirit and empathy, and drove a 1989 GMC Suburban full of friends to Washington, DC for the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, all while nursing a broken ankle via knee scooter.

In addition to all of these efforts, Susan also succeeded in multiple careers. She worked as a market researcher in RTP and Raleigh, and as a retail business owner in Five Points. Before coming to Raleigh, she was a pharmaceutical executive in California after graduating from the University of Dayton.

Friends describe her as generous, intelligent, kind, a blessing, caring, possessing fine judgment and wisdom from a life well-lived, always freely shared.

Susan’s family remembers her as the driving force behind family reunions and vacations, the go-getter “director” who was never satisfied with mere couch-potatoing, not when there was an adventure to be had, art to appreciate, or something to learn. She drove cross-country multiple times with her husband, Jeff Basham, once towing “the tin can,” an Airstream trailer, into the sub-freezing winter to visit a daughter in Canada at Christmas. She was dedicated to family and to passing on her love of the arts, community, family, friends and neighbors, to her daughters.

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Susan was born in New Castle County, DE, on June 6, 1949, the daughter of the late Bill and Bunnie Garrity. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Kathleen Ellen Garrity.

She is survived by her husband of 42 years, Jeff Basham; daughters, Jennifer Basham Werner and husband, Paul Werner of Lawrence, KS, Kelley Basham and husband, Tim Cruickshank of Brooklyn, NY, Sarah Basham and husband, Antony Ramsden of Vancouver, Canada; grandchildren, William “Gray” and Jillian Werner; sisters, Patricia Garrity Curran of Crestwood, KY, Jane Garrity Ruggiero and husband, Jim of West Chester, PA; brother, Michael Garrity and wife, Elizabeth of Minneapolis, MN; and a host of nieces, nephews, and extended family.

A Celebration of Susan’s Life will be held at 11:00 AM on December 16th, 2023 at Greg Poole, Jr. All Faiths Chapel at Dorothea Dix Park, with a reception immediately following. This site will be updated with an exact time at a later date. The interment will be held at Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.

Funeral arrangements are by Bryan-Lee Funeral Home of Raleigh. Online condolences may be made at www.bryan-leefuneralhome.com . In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of Susan’s favorite causes, listed below, or the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation.

Dix Park Conservancy https://www.dixparkconservancy.org/donate

North Carolina Arts in Action https://www.ncartsinaction.org/donate

Carolina Ballet https://www.carolinaballet.com/individual-giving

Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation https://fundraise.givesmart.com/form/q8Qfcw?vid=11joqt