Suzanne Mahnke Westbrook

On August 27, 2025, Suzanne Mahnke Westbrook (Susie) lost her 8-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Susie was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 31,1937 and grew up in the northern Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay along Lake Michigan. She was the daughter of August Charles (Carl) Mahnke and Florence Bruemmer Mahnke. Susie graduated from Whitefish Bay High School and entered Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. After one year she transferred to Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, and graduated in 1959. She entered Occupational Therapy school at Tufts University in Medford and Boston, Massachusetts. She went to work at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain south of Boston in the clinical research laboratory of Dr. Timberlake who was involved in the efficacy of medications for clinical treatment of Parkinson’s Disease. One day she met Ted Westbrook in the hospital parking lot as he was at the Shattuck Hospital in a summer lab job while in medical school at Cornell in NYC. That meeting was the beginning of 63 years of a wonderful marriage.

Despite her significant acquired hearing loss beginning at age 6, Susie managed to have a social presence with people that allowed her to successfully interact with everyone with little hesitation. This led to Susie making real friendships with people that many of us would never have met. She was known for her kind and generous spirit and took a genuine interest in the people she met. She lived first in Back Bay in Boston and then later in an apartment on Mt. Auburn in Cambridge with six roommates who did many things together. She had a prodigious memory for people’s names. She could remember what she had talked about in a gathering 2-3 years before. She enjoyed spending summer weekends in the Berkshires and made many visits to the Tanglewood summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In 1969 when Ted did his residency in Neurology with Maurice Victor at Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital, she said “We are going where?” At the end of those three years, she had made so many nice friends that she wanted to stay in Cleveland. Those three years turned into a lifetime involvement with Cleveland and all its wonderful people and institutions.

Susie was an avid volunteer over the years. She volunteered with the ladies circulating the cart on the patient floors at Metro Hospital selling small items of need to patients. Similarly, she did service with the patient cart at St. Luke’s Hospital and often brought along her younger daughter in the early years. She was very active in supporting swimming programs at Lake Erie Silver Dolphins and was a strong supporter of the Hawken School swimming team, not only in her enthusiasm in supporting the teams in Ohio and the surrounding states when they travelled to surrounding states, but also in making contributions to the pool fund. She enjoyed spending time with her family all over the country, and she was beloved by her grandchildren.

She became very interested in plants, trees, and gardens, and she went on to get formal training at Cleveland State University where she obtained certification from the State of Ohio in Horticulture. She visited several gardens in England, France, and the United States. Her large parsley plant won prizes twice in two national garden shows. She did garden planning, design, and oversaw the planting of several homes in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Hunting Valley, Chagrin Falls, Pepper Pike, and Moreland Hills. She developed an extensive library of books and journals surrounding horticulture. Her yard on Wellington Road in Cleveland Heights was a horticultural museum of its own.

Susie was a member of the Shaker Lakes Garden Club, the Intown Club, the Cleveland Skating Club, and The Woman’s Council at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She was a strong supporter of The Cleveland Orchestra where she had been in regular attendance since 1972.

She enjoyed her time sailing, racing, and cruising in Lake Erie on “Ariadne,” a Tartan 34 and “Red Rooster” racing in the I-21 fleet at Mentor Harbor Yachting Club.

She leaves behind her husband Edward Westbrook, MD (Ted) in Bratenahl, Ohio. Her son Charles Westbrook (Charlie), and his wife Anne Westbrook, and their children Bettina Corbin and Jamie Corbin, and Charlie’s daughters Lily Westbrook and Arabella Westbrook reside in Richmond, Virginia and New York City. In Ohio she leaves her son William Westbrook (Bill) and his wife Jennifer Westbrook and Bill’s son William David (Trout), and Alexander (Alex) Zajac of Bainbridge, Ohio. In Lafayette, California, she leaves behind her daughter Leslie Westbrook Lomond, and her husband Scott Lomond, and their children John Edward (Ted) Lomond, Preston Lomond, and Catherine Lomond in the immediate family. Her brother Robert C. (Bob) predeceased her.

Burial has taken place at Lake View Cemetery in a ceremony limited to the immediate family. A Celebration of her life will occur on Saturday, November 8, from 1-4 PM in the Penthouse at One Bratenahl Place. 

A donation in Memory of her life may be made to The Holden Arboretum and/or The Cleveland Botanical Garden at P.O. Box 74422, Cleveland, Ohio 44194-0002.