Sue Strong Hassler (1938-2022)

Sue Strong Hassler, 84, died November 9, 2022 of complications from back surgery and COVID. She spent her last days in a memory care unit in Hudson OH. She co-authored Arthur Machen & Montgomery Evans: Letters of a Literary Friendship, 1923-1947 (1994) with her husband, the editor and critic Donald M. Hassler.

Virginia Sue Strong was born July 16, 1938 in Hobard OK and attended West Texas A&M State University. She worked as a musician in Texas, and after the end of her first marriage, moved to Kent OH in 1977, where she spent the rest of her life. She taught piano there and worked as musical director and organist at Faith Universal church. She met Donald M. “Mack” Hassler through her brother-in-law, who worked with Hassler in the English Department at Kent State, and they were subsequently married. She earned her Master’s at Kent State in 1982, was on the board of the Kent State Orchestra Society, and won many awards for her work.

She is survived by her husband, two daughters from her first marriage, two stepsons from her second, and four grandchildren.