M. Susan Condon

Oct 7, 1938 -

Mar 14, 2024

Susan Condon, 85, a pioneering female architect in the 1960s, who later worked as an architect for the Municipality of Anchorage during the Project '80s construction, died on March 14, 2024.

Born Martha Susan Stuardi in New Mobile, Ala., on Oct. 7, 1938, Susan and her younger brother John were raised by two doting maternal aunts, Clyde and Alene, after the accidental death of her mother and subsequent relinquishment by her father.

She graduated from Saint Mary's Dominican High School and then the University of Southwest Louisiana with a degree in architecture, moving to Alaska in September 1963 to work for Crittenden, Cresetta and Cannon, a Juneau architectural firm.

Susan later moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where she worked for a private firm before taking the job with the municipal Capital Projects Office.

"She was one of the few women of her generation to become an architect," wrote Maureen Weeks, a longtime friend from their years in Juneau. "She also was a remarkable artist and appreciator of art."

"One memorable afternoon, I sat in a rocking chair at home in Juneau and listened, astonished, on the telephone as she (in Anchorage) took me, artwork by artwork, to a large exhibit she had recently seen in New York City," Weeks recalled. "I saw the art as she spoke," adding, "that was before cell phones with photos galore on your phone and the internet."

Susan also was an accomplished photographer and a talented dancer.

"One of my favorite memories of Susan is taking dance classes with her," Annie Carpeneti, another friend from Juneau, recalled of a class more than 40 years ago.

"We were taking a modern dance class from a professional modern dancer who had come to Juneau for a few days. Many of the students were accomplished dancers, but Susan was the only person taking the class that could actually execute the steps the teacher was trying to teach us. He kept saying, 'Susan is the only one who is doing it correctly.' Susan was very modest about this praise."

Molly Jones served as administrator of Anchorage's 1% for Art Program in the 1980s, and worked with Susan on several of the community's biggest projects of that period. Project '80s included the Performing Arts Center, Sullivan Arena, Loussac Library and Egan Convention Center. "(Susan) was eager to help me read complex architectural plans and discuss effective placement, appropriate types of artwork, and planning for installations," Jones said.

"I enjoyed her bright eyes and good humor and we shared serious interests in the arts. I admired her talents as a ceramicist and a photographer (she won awards for her entries in both fields in competitions sponsored by the museum)."

Her photographic work was displayed at galleries and businesses around Anchorage, with her most recent exhibit organized in 2023.

"Susan Condon's 50 photographs at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art (in Anchorage) are unified by the color yellow. She wrote in her artist's statement that when she was told to photograph what she loves, she realized her love was color, particularly the color yellow. She spent two years collecting the playful images of playground equipment, flowers, autos and airplanes," the Anchorage Daily News reviewer wrote in 2007.

Susan won an honorable mention in the Alaska Positive 2004 photography competition.

She also was an accomplished swimmer, as evidenced at the Alaska Masters State Swimming Championship in 1997. She took first-place honors in the 55-to-59 age group in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle, and set state age group records in the 50-yard back and 50-yard free.

Susan outlived two husbands. The first, Harvey Golub, the engineering half of the firm Golub & Golub, died when an Alaska Airlines flight crashed on its approach to Juneau on Sept. 4, 1971. Harvey, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, N.Y., had engineered several well-known railroad bridges in Alaska including Hurricane Gulch.

Susan met Wilson Condon on a blind date set up by friends, and they married on April 20, 1974. Wilson died Dec. 27, 2015, after several years of fighting the effects of Lewy Body dementia. He had served as attorney general for Gov. Jay Hammond and as Department of Revenue commissioner for Gov. Tony Knowles.

It wasn't all work for the Condons. An Anchorage Daily News columnist reported in 1995 that Wilson and Susan sat outside the Governor's House and listened to the Seattle Mariners' baseball game on their car radio, arriving late to dinner.

Susan was a regular at Anchorage's Snow City Cafe especially during Wilson's time at the Anchorage Pioneer Home. "They had a table for her no matter how many people were waiting. She even had Thanksgiving dinner with the staff one year," Jones said.

In addition to creating art, Susan, along with Wilson, enjoyed and appreciated collecting artwork.

"Susan and Wilson's home was a study in perfection. They had such a good time on their trips to buy the large prints by major artists - including Frank Stella and Ellsworth Kelly," Jones said.

"I remember one Thanksgiving there when our son spilled cranberry sauce on her perfect white linen tablecloth. She reacted with equanimity and grace - one of many times she endeared herself to me. She was both fastidious and forgiving."

The Condons also enjoyed watching birds and adventure travel, including Camp Denali in Alaska, a railroad trip across Canada, Yellowstone National Park, multiple fall color driving trips in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, the Canadian Arctic, and a visit to Antarctica sponsored by Wilson's alma mater, Stanford University.

The Condons visited Jones and her family in Florida in the 1990s. "My favorite memory of that time together was watching the two of them interact. Their mutual admiration, respect and devotion for each other was palpable," she said. "Each of them had a softness in their facial expressions when they looked at each other that to this day brings tears to my eyes."

Susan was a longtime member of Philanthropic Educational Organization. Her favorites charities were Alaska Public Media and the Anchorage Museum.

"She made me laugh. Her humor was just so wonderful," said Johnetta Moore, a longtime family friend since 1968.

Susan's final years were greatly eased by the caring staff at Baxter Senior Living, Ancora Hospice and the daily visits of her little dog Casey looked after by her devoted friend, Tony Moore.

No services are planned at this time. Donations in Susan's name may be made to support work of an organization she loved: Alaska Public Media.