As 2024 comes to a close, one person I'm remembering and celebrating with tenderness and profound gratitude is my dear friend and mentor Susan Osborn, pictured here in September 2023 on Orcas Island, Washington (the last time I saw her). She passed earlier this year, leaving the world and the many people whose lives she touched deeply with an abundance of blessings and gifts, as well as tender hearts as we farewell a radiant, wise, and overflowing soul.

I met Susan in 2005, a pivotal and magical year for me during which I spent time on Orcas Island recording my first full-length album. Orcas itself is a unique and truly special place, and its warm embrace and hosting of the journey I found myself on had much to do with the lifelong impact of those months. Susan's presence was similarly incomparable. The depth and integrity of her heart—and the heartfulness of her mentorship—were nurturing and catalytic. She opened potent new doors on my path, provided just the right amount of guidance as I navigated some of the most crucial and challenging passages and the accompanying self-doubt, and affirmed and welcomed me into new artistic and soulful terrains that I had previously only begun to touch into. Life opened up for me in ways that had only been hinted at before. Ever since, I've cherished those precious months on Orcas, just as I've treasured the place that Susan has held in my life.

As the years passed, I increasingly came to understand the importance of that time within the larger arc of my life, eventually recognizing that it was what truly birthed me into my soul's adventure. As connected as I felt to Orcas, due to my time on the distant East Coast of the US and New Zealand, the last time I set foot there—until 2023—was 2007. Returning to that special island last year and reconnecting in person with Susan was a magical experience. Although she had been dealing with health challenges, she was as radiant as ever. It was a true gift to get to see her again. Thank you for sharing the dai bōken (great adventure), Susan. Journey well. We miss you.

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You can hear from Susan yourself using the links below. Over the course of her life as a revered vocalist, she sang with the Paul Winter Consort for a number of years, for world leaders during peace talks and memorials, for her dedicated Japanese audience, for her Orcas Island community, and for her listeners around the world. We've been playing her Christmas album, All Through the Night, all week.

Susan’s website (most of her music catalogue can be downloaded free or by donation from her site)
Susan’s obituary in the Island Sounder
Spotify link to O Come Emmanuel from Susan’s Christmas album
Artist David Densmore’s website (Susan’s husband)