Death of Sue Howie

Everyone at HAD  has been shocked and saddened by the recent death of Sue Howie at 66.

Sue started as a volunteer almost 20 years ago and rapidly became the visionary and inspirational Manager of HAD's Equipment Centre. Sue quickly changed the organisation’s approach when she started to sell mobility equipment.

Sue, who lived in Codicote and died on May 22 after complications following heart by-pass surgery, also created the Centre’s multi-sensory room. The room, designed to stimulate and enthuse young children with disabilities, will be re-named in her honour.

She also ‘named’ our mobile equipment and advice vehicle Ivanhoe as Chief Executive Annabelle Waterfield remembers: “We both travelled down to Dorset to take a look at the vehicle and decided that we should try and come up with a name for the then bright yellow lorry.

“As soon as Sue saw it she said ‘it’s name is Ivanhoe’ in such a way that it was never in doubt.

“I will miss her dreadfully. When we got very old we always planned to live in an old house fitted with all the latest mobility adaptations so we could cruise around the place like two ageing characters from Easy Rider. Sadly I’ll have to do it on my own now.”

The family connection continues at the Equipment Centre - one of Sue’s daughters, Tanya, is a valuable member of the present team. Sue had two other children, Fran and Chris and four grandchildren. 

A tribute to Sue, plus all the latest news on HAD products and people can be found in the new issue of Helping Hand magazine.