A vivacious woman who loved laughter, the beauty of nature, the comfort of home, Johnny Walker Red, barbecues, close friends, her family, her dogs, “scootering” around the island, and most of all her life, Sue Considine died from cancer Nov. 24, 2013 at Enso House on Whidbey Island in Washington State.

She had been fighting the disease for a year and a half; she died the day after her birthday.

Since 2006, Sue had divided her time between homes on Whidbey Island and her long-time residence in Long Beach, Calif.

She was the eldest child of Joy and Reginald Mulliner, born in 1945 in the village of Caterham in Surrey, England. It was a pastoral childhood but not an easy one. Sue almost died from pleurisy when she was seven; her father, a pilot, lost his life in a plane crash when she was 12. Boarding school, as it turned out, was not her cup of tea.

When she was 16, Sue attended a secretarial school in London, and the following year she embarked on an enormously successful and lifelong career in the airline industry. When asked what she did, Sue liked to say, “I was a corporate slave,” but she always made it clear that she loved her work. She took her first job, at British Caledonia Airways, in London, just at the point when the airline industry was making its transition from reservation cards to mainframe computers, and Sue mastered the new technology.

It became her responsibility to train reservation clerks from numerous airlines. In 1973, she moved to the U.S. and joined Continental Airlines as Customer Service Coordinator in the SHARES Service Center, which supported multiple airlines. When Sue retired, in 2005, she was a director for the Electronic Data Systems (EDS) SHARES department, working out of Los Angeles.

Being in the travel industry helped Sue to indulge her penchant for being in natural wildlife areas; at various times, she traveled to Alaska, Australia, South Africa and the Galapagos Islands. Even when she was at home, Sue was often on the move. She always had a dog — she once said she couldn’t imagine living without a dog — and that meant she went on daily nature walks. She was also a birder, artist, writer, gardener, kayaker, beachcomber, crabber and fisherwoman and an avid fan of sunsets and shooting stars.

Her love of nature was the impetus for Sue to serve on the Board of the Friends of Colorado Lagoon, a community group that formed to restore a contaminated drainage basin a block from her home in Long Beach. Through volunteers, college projects, grants and donations, the organization has made significant progress on the work of restoration and public education about the lagoon.

Sue is survived by her partner, Linda Schwarz, and their dog, Jazz. And by her brother and his wife, Noel Mulliner and Yuko Muramatsu, and her 8-year-old nephew, Tobi, whom Sue used to describe as “the light of my life.” When she was with Tobi, Sue herself seemed to be about eight. She is also survived by her adult nieces, Penny and Lucy Mulliner and Lisa Mack.

Sue Considine’s big heart, twinkly eyes, and British humor will be sorely missed by her family and by the friends, co-workers and neighbors whose lives she touched.

Anyone who wishes to make an offering on Sue’s behalf may do so by donating to Enso House in Freeland, Wash.; the Friends of Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach, Calif.; or the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash. A viewing bench in Sue’s name is being donated to Greenbank Farm, on Whidbey Island, where Sue frequently walked her dog.

In lieu of a memorial service, Sue asked that she be remembered with happiness and a smile and, perhaps, a toast.