Susie Helgi Van Ness

Susie Helgi Van Ness, age 71, of Towaco, passed Monday, January 25, 2021.

She was born in a displaced persons camp in Anspach Germany to Eno and Lea Hallik. Her father emigrated from Estonia to Germany just before WWII started. Her mother was Estonian and attending a Boarding School in Switzerland.  While on a boat heading to Estonia from Switzerland the vessel was sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat. Lea swam to shore and for a while stayed with her German Governess in Germany.  Lea was eventually housed in the Displaced Person’s Camp where she met Eno and gave birth to Helgi who would eventually be known as Susie.

Susie and her family came to the United States in 1951 and were sponsored into the country by a Lutheran Church in Chicago, Illinois.  Susie’s parents heard there were two Estonian communities in this country.  One in California and one in Paterson, New Jersey.  They moved their family to Paterson where they lived before moving to Lincoln Park.  Susie attended Boonton High School with the Class of 1967.

Through the years Susie was married to Ralph Dean and later to John Abram Van Ness who just passed away in December of 2020.  She worked as a bartender at Gunners in Pequannock and was previously a waitress at the Alpine House Restaurant in Towaco.  Susie had an eclectic love of music, loved dancing, gardening, plants and flowers.  She was a bit of a pool shark and won several tournaments. She was also excellent at crocheting. Susie was adventurous and not one to follow the crowd.  This is exemplified by her owning and riding her Harley 883 Sportster.  She loved horror movies, the Sci-Fi Channel, Mystery Science Theatre, Twilight Zone, Dr. Who, and any associated television shows, movies or books. Those who called her Susie would be happy to know that a babysitter many years ago gave her the name Susie.  Her real name is Helgi but the babysitter one day said “you don’t look like a Helgi…you look like a Susie.”  The nickname stuck with her for the rest of her life.

Susie was the loving wife of the late John Abram Van Ness (December 2020); devoted mother of Regina McCulloch and her husband Jim of Lincoln Park, Jennifer DeStefano and her husband Nick of Pequannock, and John Van Ness and his wife Michelle of Wayne; she was the cherished grandmother of James and Kevin McCulloch, Allison and Sydney DeStefano, John Scott and Silas Van Ness; she was the dearly loved great-grandmother of Jackson McCulloch; and dear sister of Jack Hallik and his wife Linda of Pennsylvania, Lisa Sullivan of Butler, and was predeceased by her siblings: Ulo “Willy” Hallik, Nancy Capps, Allen Crompton and Elu Hallik