PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Mourners filled Grace Episcopal Church Tuesday to say farewell to Susan L. Farmer, 71, the first woman elected to statewide office in Rhode Island and longtime president of Rhode Island PBS station WSBE, who died Sept. 16.
"It's never easy to say good-bye to a loved one," Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman told the gathering. "Rabbi means teacher, but it was I who learned from Susie Farmer. She learned to live with cancer with grace. It cold not darken her radiant spirit. She was an exclamation mark in a row of commas."
Comedian Frank O'Donnell said, "She was always Muffy to me." He told of how the two of them "swapped messages on Facebook over the years." He called her "A very special, very funny lady."
Longtime friend Mimi Beard told of how the two of them sat on lawn chairs "and watched the National Guard plow Lloyd Avenue during the Blizzard of '78."
Susan Farmer was the wife of Malcolm Farmer III. Born in Boston a daughter of the late Ralph and Margaret (Tyng) Lawson, she was a Providence resident for over 60 years.
The first woman in Rhode Island history elected to statewide office, she served as Secretary of State from 1983 to 1987. She went on to head PBS radio station WSBE from 1987 until 2004 and also served as the president of the Rhode Island PBS Foundation from 1987 to 2005.
She was also a candidate for lieutenant governor in 1986.
Farmer had numerous government appointments, among them, the Providence Human Relations Commission 1985-87, as a commissioner for the state Board of Elections since 2011, co-chair of the National Voter Education Project 1983-86, The National Voting System Standards Advisory Board of the Federal Election Commission, 1984- 1987.
She served on many boards of directors including the state Commission to Preserve an Independent Judiciary; the Rhode Island Anti-Drug Coalition, as chairwoman of Marathon House; National Women's Political Caucus; Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island; and as chairwoman of Challenge House. She was chairman of Paul N. McCloskey for President in 1972. She served as state coordinator for the President Ford campaign and as finance director for John Chafee for U.S. Senate campaign.
Farmer received an Honorary Doctor of Human Letters from Bryant University in 2004 and was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2010. She attended Wheeler School, Stoneleigh Prospect Hill School, Garland Junior College and Brown University Extension Division.
Besides her husband, she leaves two daughters, Heidi Farmer Piccerelli, of Barrington, and Stephanie Lawson Farmer of Kentfield, Calif.; two grandchildren; two step grandchildren; a brother, Ralph Lawson III of North Kingstown; and a sister, Margaret L. Shaw of New York.