Suzanne Marie (DiLaura) Wells

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 June 2019 at 4:58 pm

Suzanne Marie (DiLaura) Wells, 69, of Albion, passed away peacefully on June 19, 2019 after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Suzanne was born to Ellis and Catherine (Aina) DiLaura on Dec. 1, 1949.

Suzanne is survived by her husband of 47 years, Robert Wells of Kent; her children, Christopher Wells of Cary, N.C. and Jennifer (Kenneth) Wells-Dickerson of Hamlin; four grandchildren, Ryushin and Yuka Wells, and Alice and Josephine Dickerson; brother, David DiLaura of Albion; sister, Mary (DiLaura) Bullock (Tom Schleicher) of Chester, Va.; nephews, Corey (Lori) Bullock and Nathan Bullock; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, James and Kathryn Wells; nieces, Amy (Scott) Krebbeks, Sarah Wells, Emily Wells and Margaret Wells; sister-in-law, Barbara (Stephen) Arbo; nephews, Andrew (Jennifer) Arbo and Matthew (Laura) Arbo; as well as many additional cherished family, friends and students.

Suzanne graduated from Albion High School in 1967 and went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in art education from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1971. While attending college, she traveled for a semester to Siena, Italy for Experiment in International Living. She taught art at Albion High School from 1971 to 2005, during which she received many awards and honors, including the VFW Department of NY Citizenship Education Teacher Award 2002, and was nominated several times for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. She was also a former member of GO-Art!, Batavia Society of Artists, and the Albion Art Club at Marti’s on Main.

Suzanne was a lifelong member of Holy Family (St. Joseph’s) Parish, where she sang in the choir from age 13. She shared the gift of her beautiful voice at many weddings and funerals. She was also a member of Catholic Daughters of The Americas Court 953.

In 2017, Suzanne and her husband, Bob, were recipients of the Mussomeli award at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Buffalo, where each year the church honors a special descendent from Mussomeli at the Madonna of Miracles Festival. This annual festival commemorates the healing of a “paralytic” in the Sicilian village of Mussomeli in 1530 by intercession of the Virgin Mary.

In 2018, Suzanne and her family walked in the Step it Up 5k at RIT and raised over $3,000 for pancreatic cancer research. Each year, over 55,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed with a five-year survival rate of less than five percent. Memorials may made to Pancreatic Cancer Association of Western NY, www.pcawny.org, PO Box 24580, Rochester NY 14624-0580.

The family will receive friends at Christopher Mitchell Funeral Homes, Inc., 21 West Ave. Albion NY 14411, on Mon., June 24 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Suzanne’s Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Holy Family Parish – St. Joseph’s Church, W. Park Street, Albion, on Tue., June 25 at 9:30 a.m. Interment will take place in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

To share a special memory of Suzanne, please visit www.mitchellfamilyfuneralhomes.com.