Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Susan Ruth Horsley

Martha HAYLETT (Ripon) (19:10): (1196) My adjournment matter is for the attention of the Minister for Education. The action I seek is that the minister acknowledge in writing the life and service of a dedicated teacher in my electorate, the late Susan Ruth Horsley. Sue was born in the Royal Children’s Hospital on 31 December 1952 and grew up in the Pines in Frankston with her mum Heather, dad Harry, sister Wendy and her grandma. She missed the first six months of school due to whooping cough, took swimming lessons in Port Phillip Bay and went to Sunday school each week. Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, she loved the Beatles, the Bee Gees and the Rolling Stones even before they were cool. She loved jazz bars and dancing in pubs and even got involved in the Hare Krishna movement at one stage.

Sue left school at 17 and worked in the departments of health and transport before heading back to night school to get her high school certificate at age 21. She signed up to study teaching in Bendigo, where she met the love of her life, George, at Bendigo Teachers College. Sue and George had two sons, Christopher and William, and raised them on Old Tarnagulla Road in Newbridge. They were married for 47 years and were proud grandparents to Zoe, Lucy, Vivica and Poppy. Sue lived an incredible life, teaching primary school kids, travelling the world and volunteering in her community. She cared deeply about justice and fairness, and she was never shy about speaking up. She was president of the social club at the Newbridge Football Netball Club, the secretary of the Newbridge Recreative Reserve and mentor to many at Tarnagulla Primary School.

I first met Sue back in 2022 after the devastating October floods. She was leading the clean-up of the Newbridge rec reserve and was a woman on a mission. Even through ovarian cancer treatments, she would make calls, send emails, complete paperwork and chair meetings about how to get the rec reserve back up and running. That was Sue: unstoppable, selfless, strong, courageous and full of heart. She made everyone feel like they mattered and saw the potential in every person. Her students were her legacy, and her love will live on in every person she taught and every friend whose life was made better for having her in it. She lit up rooms and lifted those around her from the inside out. She gave all of herself to her family, her friends, her town and her causes. She will be so deeply missed by me and so many others across the Ripon electorate. Vale, Sue Horsley.