Deceased May 17, 2020
View alumni profile (log in required)
In Memory
Sueryun Hahn Gutierrez ’94 died peacefully after a three-year battle with breast cancer on May 17, 2020, while at home with her husband, Alexis, and daughters, Dylan and Jade. Passionate about injustice, Sue received a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government and worked with the Department of Labor to improve labor rights and working conditions. Until the cancer diagnosis, she had served as the labor attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam.
I met Sue our first day at Amherst in September 1990. We had been assigned to an all-female floor of singles in Morrow and bonded immediately over crazy advice given by Korean mothers prior to our leaving for college. Over the next four years, our friendship grew as we shared our love of singing, eating and debating. Together we struggled through issues of faith, race, class and gender, and, though her path took her from Massachusetts to Mississippi, D.C. and Vietnam, we remained in touch. While at Amherst, Sue was active in the Asian American House, Amherst Christian Fellowship and Terras Irradient, as well as all things political science.
During our time at Amherst, Sue took the opportunity to study abroad in Korea, and when she returned, she was anxious to share what she had learned to play on her guitar—a song rendition of Isaiah 40:28–31, which speaks about God giving strength to the weary and power to the weak so they would soar on wings like eagles. As we grieve Sue’s death, I cannot help but be grateful that I had a friend whom God used to give strength to the weary and power to the weak, and I know that right now, my friend is soaring with eagles’ wings, smiling down upon us and telling us, “Now it’s your turn.”
Paula (Simonis) Castner ’94