Suzette A. Burkhardt, 69, Deming resident passed away Tuesday September 12, 2017 at her home.

No services will take place as were her wishes. Cremation has been entrusted to Baca’s Mimbres Crematory.

Suzette was born November 6, 1947 to Howard F. MacDonald and Monique (Gheysens) MacDonald in Worcester, MA.

Her family moved from Worcester to West Boylston, MA in 1962 where she graduated from high school in 1965.

She married Wayne W. Burkhardt in 1967 in Worcester and graduated from Worcester State Teachers College in 1969. During her first year of teaching in Auburn, MA, she began a two-year battle with Optic Neuritis which ultimately left her blind.

This didn’t stop her from learning to knit and crochet and pursue a passion for cooking. When they moved to North Brookfield, MA in 1976, she aggressively became a passionate gardener creating a beautiful landscape where she and Wayne had pet goats, sheep, chickens, dogs, and cats.

She was active in church activities and the community as a member and chairperson of the Haston Public Library committee. When they retired in 2000 to care for elderly relatives and moved to Deming, she again applied her gardening skills to the yard with great success.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother and leaves her husband, Wayne, a brother, Mickael G. MacDonald of Upton, MA; niece, Kerrie Harper of Upton, MA and nephew, Shawn MacDonald of Uxbridge, MA.