Susan Jo (Abercrombie) Ardussi
1940- 2025
Susan Jo (Abercrombie) Ardussi passed away peacefully, of natural causes, in Dec. 2025, at an adult care home in Bellevue, WA. She was born August 1940, in Moscow, ID, daughter of Robert L. and Dorothy Jean (McComb) Abercrombie. After marriage to her husband John Ardussi, the family made Issaquah, WA, their home base for fifty years.
Susan’s life passion was art – drawing, painting, sculpture, and cloth-work. She and her husband (whom she married March 1965, in Corona, CA) first met in a Chinese art class while attending the University of Washington. There, Susan earned a BA in art and in later life an MA in education.
Susan worked for three years as staff fashion illustrator for a major Australian department store chain, while accompanying her husband and son to Australia in 1973 on his PhD scholarship in Asian Studies. Susan continued this career back in the Seattle area, working freelance for Frederick & Nelson and other retail enterprises.
Susan had a lifelong love of children and interest in dolls. Her teaching focused on elementary children with disabilities. A letter to Susan from one of her schools read “Your caring attitude with the children is a trait most becoming to you and appreciated by all.”
Susan belonged to doll clubs in Seattle and Leawood, KS, where she and John lived for ten years on a work assignment. She created a line of children’s art pillows based on her doll designs which she sold at local art fairs. Together they visited the famous doll and fine art museums in Seattle, Kansas City, Bellevue WA, Ontario Can, Cologne, Versailles, Giverny and Paris France.
In 1988, Susan was appointed as the founding chairperson of the Issaquah Arts Commission, leading her team to build a presence and focus on community arts development. Under her guidance, significant pieces of public art by noted regional sculptors were acquired for the city.
Susan was the beloved wife of husband John, devoted mother to her son Sean Ardussi, and lifelong “big sister” to Julie Abercrombie and Margie McDonald.
Susan will be interred at Issaquah Hillside Cemetery. The family requests that bequests in her name be made to Children’s Hospital in Seattle.
