Susan M. “Susie” Beaudette, a longtime resident of Newcastle, died on Sunday, March 29, 2026. She was 78 years old. She was born on April 27, 1947 in Detroit, Mich.; her parents were Robert and Nancy McGuire.
The McGuire family lived in Romeo, Mich., and starting in the 1950s they began spending summers in Newcastle. She attended local schools in Romeo; eventually her father took a teaching position at Oldfields School in Glencoe, Md. Susie graduated from Oldfields and attended the University of Maryland.
In 1967 she married Bruce L. Beaudette Jr. They bought a house on Glidden Street in Newcastle, where they lived together for the better part of six decades. This house was the center of a busy life: Susie was an accomplished cook, cultivated a spectacular garden, stayed busy with a long series of ambitious home improvement projects, and loved to entertain her wide circle of family and friends. She showered love on and paid rapt attention to a menagerie of dogs and cats.
She and Bruce loved to travel together, often with friends and family. Their adventures took them to many different corners of the continental U.S. and to Europe, from the north woods of Maine to the coast of California, from the vineyards of France to the plazas of Spain. She and her older sister Phoebe McGuire Nichols had an intensely close relationship; Phoebe and her husband John frequently accompanied Susie and Bruce on their trips.
Susie had many talents and interests, and whatever was in front of her, she threw herself into it with gusto. Her industriousness was legendary among family and friends; whatever she did, she did well while maintaining her characteristic cheerfulness and sense of cool. The high points of her working career included New Cargoes, an elegant gift shop that she and Bruce ran for many years together in Wiscasset. She also worked in the bakery at Le Garage, the restaurant just across the street from the gift shop, and eventually became a line cook in the kitchen at “the Ler.”
Susie had a wide and adoring circle of friends. She was a talented musician with a keen interest in singing and, later, playing the ukulele with her friends the “Ukeladies.” She firmly believed in the benefit of exercise, was a familiar face on various Lincoln County pickleball courts, and could often be seen far from home while deep in the middle of one of her famous brisk walks.
Her sense of humor was infectious; she loved to laugh. Her curiosity and her sense of humor overlapped in a fascination with the macabre. If The Lincoln County News mentioned a particularly grisly crime, her daily walk would be arranged to take her past the police tape.
She had an avid curiosity and was especially eager to keep up with whatever was happening in her circle of friends and acquaintances. There was no such thing as a quick visit to her house. The answer to one question would invariably lead to a cascade of additional probing questions, and eventually it was easier just to sit down and deliver a complete report. Everyone who encountered her hospitality immediately felt at ease. She and Bruce were uncommonly generous about sharing their beautiful home on Glidden Street. She will be sorely missed.
She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Bruce L. Beaudette Jr., of Newcastle; nephew, Sam Nichols and wife, Laurie San Martin, of Davis, Calif., and their children Georgia and Annabel.
She also leaves behind a large group of friends, who loved her and cared for her very much, including her close friends, Cally and Tom Aldrich. Susie was godmother to their daughter, Kate Aldrich. She and Cally met as children during Susie’s first summer in Maine and were inseparable ever since.
Susie was predeceased by her beloved older sister, Phoebe Nichols, in 2021.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences and messages for her family may be expressed by visiting stronghancock.com.
