Susan Mohl Powers, 79, of Westport, passed away on Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at Charlton Memorial Hospital. She was the wife of Alan W. Powers.
Mrs. Powers was born in St. Paul, MN, daughter of the late Judson J. and Florence (Kling) Mohl and had resided in Westport since 1979. She attained her Bachelor’ Degree from Mt. Holyoke College, where she was an Astronomy major for two years, in the same class with Jeff Hoffman, astronaut who fixed the Hubble telescope. She also won the Bernice Maclean Zoology prize for her analysis, The Color Vision of Pollinating Hymenoptera. Thus her first major art exhibit, at Squibb headquarters, Princeton, NJ, was reviewed in the NYT, Blending Science and Art (Mar 11, 1979). A renowned artist and sculptor, Wikipedia includes her on List of Sculptors (since1100 BC). Separately, enter her name on Wikipedia. To support her art she created Sailshades which sold to 34 states. She enjoyed spending time with her family, especially when they helped make her shades early on. She put art on some, like Julian and Sue Underwood’s.
A memorial art exhibit will include a huge piece from Squibb, many paintings like Bawdy Autumn, and her smaller sculptures, not the one for 20 years above the entry lobby to Prima Care, Fall River. Her art heals, in many hospitals, like the schizophrenic ward at Butler Hospital, Providence. Dr Lewis Thomas invited her to show at Sloan Kettering, but her husband ignorantly demurred. Susan also played cello, and joined her husband’s trombone, an organ and professional voice quartet in performing Dylan Thomas’s Death Shall Have No Dominion set to music by her husband, who hopes to include it in a memorial Unitarian service.
Survivors along with her husband include her 2 daughters: Emily Lori and her husband Marco of Tiverton and Tess Powers of Colorado Springs, CO; her sister: Sara Brown and her husband Ben of IL; 4 grandchildren: Nicholas Lori, Emma Lori, Judd Brau and Beck Brau; along with many nieces and nephews.
The family will announce the memorial exhibit and service to be held in a few months.
See her websites, sailshadestudios.com and Sailshades.com.