Susan W. Duke, 61

Susan W. Duke, who grew up in Laredo, Tex., and moved north with her husband to live in Noyac and Sag Harbor for 31 years, died Monday at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quogue. She was 61 and had had a debilitating bowel disease for many years.

Born on Dec. 28, 1954, in Inglewood, Calif., to Max Watts and the former Mary Lawrence, Mrs. Duke soon headed with her family to Laredo, where she went to school and earned an associate business degree from the Texas A&M International University.  After college, she worked as a personnel director in Arlington, Tex. It was there that she met Woody Duke Jr. through mutual friends.

“Susan was engaged to another man,” Mr. Duke said yesterday. “I said to her, if he ever gives you any trouble, let me know.” She decided then and there that she was wearing the wrong man’s ring, he said. They were soon married.

The couple moved to Noyac in 1995 with their 3-year-old daughter, Cori. Mrs. Duke became an executive secretary in the Southampton School District, working there for six years until her illness required surgery. She then was active in the Sag Harbor community and became involved with the day camp run by the now defunct Stella Maris School.

Mrs. Duke was an artist who loved to sketch and do crafts, her sister-in-law, Terri White, said yesterday. She loved shopping and frequenting her  favorite store, T.J. Maxx, which earned her the nickname Maxxinista. She also enjoyed going to Long Beach in Sag Harbor and playing games of Scrabble there with her husband’s extended family.

Mrs. Duke was cremated, and it is Mr. Duke’s wish that after he dies his ashes will be mixed with hers and dispersed. A Mass of Christian burial was held at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor on Tuesday.

Mrs. Duke is survived by her daughter, Cori, now Mary Cora Smith of Southampton, in addition to her husband, and by three grandchildren. Her parents also survive; her mother lives in Laredo, while her father settled in Corpus Christi, Tex. Also surviving are a sister, Sharon Garant of San Antonio, and a brother, Kenny Watts of Corpus Christi.

Memorial donations have been suggested to East End Hospice, 481 Riverhead Road, Westhampton Beach 11978.