Suzanne was my mother. She summered in Provincetown for over forty years. Foggy days reminded her of the Belgian seashore and her childhood home in Brussels. She walked the dunes, swam in the bay, had a passion for dance, art, good food and flowers. There was always something in the kitchen for the kids in the neighborhood, and a meal at her table was not to be missed. She loved life, and even as she struggled with it she could still laugh with it.

If you walk down Commercial Street in the east end of town you will come across a flower garden that takes up a whole building lot. There is no locked gate at its entrance, no sign warning those to keep out or claiming private property though it is not publicly owned. It is Suzanne's garden though not many people know it. An open space that all are welcome to walk through, sit in and enjoy quietly in their own time. No fee, no box requesting contributions because that's the way she enjoyed it and so it remains to this day.

I started it as a vegetable garden with Lynne Rilleau, but flowers were always her favorite so after a season she hired Frank Corbin to transform it: a Belgian fence of pear trees, hazelnut bushes she remembered from her childhood, roses for their fragrance and color, a wisteria arbor built by Tom Rand, and special to her heart the Irises. After several seasons Gordon Gaskill took over and for the next 18 years he maintained it until his death.

Walking down the beach one day on her way to Motherwell's memorial she saw Norman coming down his steps, and she called out, "Norman, isn't it great to be alive." He responded, "Yeah, let's wrestle." And he gave her a hug.

That was Suzanne.

 

John Sinaiko, Provincetown, MA

from "i am provincetown - the extraordinary exhibit"
at Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum