Obituary of Susan Marie Mockenhaupt

SUSAN MARIE MOCKENHAUPT (Age 63) Susan Mockenhaupt of Reston, VA passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 9th, 2011. She was born in June 1947 in Los Angeles, CA, the first of the eleven children of Edward and Juanita Mockenhaupt. Susan was raised in the San Fernando Valley and graduated from The University of California Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Studio Art (1976). Susan began her 33-year career with the U.S. Forest Service in 1977 in Santa Barbara's Los Padres National Forest office, first in the graphic arts department, and then as the Forest Information Officer and Incident Information Officer for forest fires. In the early 90s, she transferred to the Forest Service headquarters in Washington D.C., where she held positions in the Strategic Planning, Recreation, and Cooperative Forestry divisions. Susan was devoted to enhancing the quality of urban communities. She became the National Program Manager for Urban and Community Forestry several years ago and retired from the Forest Service in this role in 2010. Susan was a talented artist and lover of all the arts. She and her husband, David Stroh, enjoyed travelling throughout Europe and Asia. They hosted international visitors at their home as volunteers with Meridian House. They were choir members in St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Reston, Virginia. Susan was actively involved as a citizen in planning for the future development of the Reston community. She is survived by her beloved and devoted husband, David; step-children Misha, Benjamin, Christine and Sarah; grandchildren Jacob, Isaac, Lucas, Dylan, Anna, Alexandra, and Ravi; siblings Gregory, Laura, Beverly, Stephen, Nancy, Joseph, Mary Ann, Paul, William, Margaret, and their families; and a host of other relatives and friends. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 11 a.m. at St. Anne's Episcopal Church, 1700 Wainwright Drive, Reston, VA 20190. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Susan may be made to organizations committed to missions important to her: St. Anne's Episcopal Church for the new organ; Heifer International to supply livestock to third world families, Attn: Donor Services, PO Box 8058, Little Rock, AK 72203, http://www.heifer.org/myregistry/susan_mockenhaupt ; and The Alliance for Community Trees to fund the California non-profit "Tree People" organization , 4603 Calvert Road, College Park, MD 20740-3421.