Alzheimer's Robs Former Fenton Resident of Creative Spirit

While former Fenton resident Susan Guy won't be making a physical appearance at the on June 24, her paintings and her creative spirit will be on display.

Guy, who lived in Fenton for more than 20 years, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and is confined to a nursing home. Before the diagnosis, however, she had an impressive art career.

She always had a strong feeling for the West. It showed up in her paintings: horses, cowboys, open nature.

Guy loved being a Western artist so much that despite owning her own dog-grooming business in Fenton and being a key actress for the Fenton Village Players, she thought she should live in the West. Her family moved to Wyoming in 1999, where her art career blossomed.

“She illustrated three children's books,” said her husband, Wes Guy, who now resides in Tawas. "C is for Cowboys became the best-selling book in Wyoming in over 100 years and is still selling today, even in Michigan.”

In 2002 she took the People's Choice Award for her painting at the Coors Western Art Show in Denver and had one of her paintings on the 2002 Wyoming state map.  Susan mastered both watercolors and oils, and her paintings were in several galleries across the country.

However, her flourishing career came to an abrupt end in 2009, when she was diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 59.

“I didn’t know how brave she was until this happened,” Wes Guy said.

Wes said the doctor told the couple she had six to nine months before she would be in a nursing home and shortly after she would be dead.

“She never said a word. It got really quiet,” Wes Guy said. “She looked up and the doctor said, ‘No, you won't be able to paint,’ and that’s when she started crying.

“She tried and tried afterwards, but couldn’t do it."

Wes brought his wife back to Michigan to be near friends and family. Susan, 62, is now in a nursing home in East Tawas under the care of hospice, where she is living out her last days.

“Her mind still is strong but she cannot control her body and is unable to communicate her wants or needs,” Wes Guy said. "Her ability to talk, walk and function are gone.”

On June 24, nine of her prints will be on display in the Fenton Art Walk at , 115 S. River St. in Fenton.

“I enjoy painting many subjects, including figures and animals,” Susan Guy had previously said about her art. “My goal with each painting is to evoke some emotion in the viewer. By creating a strong, visually exciting composition using light, shadow and color, I hope to give the sense of sharing a stolen moment in time.”

Editor's note: Log on to Fenton Patch every day leading up to the Fenton Art Walk on June 24 for our Faces of the Fenton Art Walk series, which will feature several participating artists.