Susan Kunzmann, health care executive

Susan Ann Kunzmann of 42 Round Lake Road, a registered nurse who was a vice president at Nursing and Home Care of Wilton, died Saturday, Sept. 23, at her home. She was 59 years old and the wife of Robert O. Kunzmann.
A native of New Haven, Mrs. Kunzmann was born on March 14, 1941, the daughter of the late Walter and Eleanor Frey Kenney. She attended West Haven schools and graduated from West Haven High School in 1958.
The daughter of a nurse, she obtained a degree in nursing from the University of Connecticut in 1962.
“She became a nurse because she wanted to be a stewardess,” her husband reported. “In those days, you had to be a nurse to be a stewardess.”
However, she enjoyed nursing so well, she decided to stay on the ground and pursued a career in health care, starting in Michigan with part-time work.
A year after the family moved here from Baltimore in 1979, Mrs. Kunzmann joined the Visiting Nurse Association of Wilton. The association has since grown into Nursing and Home Care, which serves several towns. At the time of her death, she was vice president of homecare services, which provides both clinical services and home help aides.
In 1990, Mrs. Kunzmann became one of only 83 people in Connecticut to be certified in community health nursing by the American Nurses’ Association.
In 1999, she received a master’s degree in health administration from Western Connecticut State College.
She had also served on a medical advisory committee for the Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association.
Over her years in Ridgefield, Mrs. Kunzmann was active in supporting athletic programs that her children were involved in. She was a treasurer of the Soccer Club of Ridgefield, and a volunteer with both youth hockey and Tiger hockey programs.
A member of St. Stephen’s Church, Mrs. Kunzmann was a former member of the Altar Guild and had once been a Sunday school teacher.
Though suffering from the effects of cancer, Mrs. Kunzmann also enjoyed riding through the Connecticut countryside on the back of her husband’s motorcycle.
Besides her husband of 31 years, Mrs. Kunzmann is survived by a son, Brian W. Kunzmann of Ridgefield and his wife, Rebecca; and a daughter, Elizabeth F. Thomas of Asheville, N.C., and her husband, Jeffrey.
The Rev. John R. Gilchrist, rector, led a memorial service Tuesday at St. Stephen’s Church.
Contributions in her memory may be made to Mid-Fairfield Hospice, P.O. Box 818, Norwalk CT 06852, or to the Oncology Nursing Services, 8-East, Danbury Hospital, 24 Hospital Avenue, Danbury CT 06810.
The Kane Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.