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Deceased EMT honored for work to get traffic signal
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by MEREDITH SOMERS
Charles County commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper speaks during the emergency traffic light dedication in honor of Susan Marie "Susie" Spalding, a two-decade veteran of emergency services. On hand to flip the switch was Irene A. Spalding, far right, with Commissioner Samuel N. Graves Jr.
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It was with bittersweet pride that the emergency traffic light at East Charles and Calvert streets in La Plata was switched on, two months to the day when the life of its strongest ally was cut short.
The original warning lights for approaching emergency vehicles were demolished by the April 2002 tornado.
Their restoration was championed by 48-year-old Susan Marie "Susie" Spalding, the senior shift supervisor for the Charles County 911 Communications Center in La Plata, before her death this past April.
"‘At last' is what she would say," said Susie's mother, Irene Spalding, after flipping the switch. "She was bound and determined to get this light in."
"This light really does belong to Susie," said Del. Murray D. Levy (D-Charles). "I can't think of a better person to dedicate this to."
When there's an emergency, every second counts, a fact Susie Spalding knew all too well, as a 25-year veteran employee with the Charles County government, 24 of which were spent at the 911 communications center.
The intersection alongside the courthouse has been one of the most dangerous areas in downtown La Plata for ordinary drivers, and time consuming for emergency vehicle personnel.
The Royal Tea Room proprietor Dee Jameson said she has seen and heard numerous fender benders outside her business, which sits at the northwest corner of the intersection.
"Sometimes [emergency vehicles] will sit for 30 to 60 seconds, and that's a long time with they need to get out," Jameson said. "Those [emergency workers] are out there for a reason."
Jameson said Susie and her mother frequented her restaurant, and over time she learned that Susie was dedicated to making the intersection safer for all motorists.
Susie was the president of Charles County Volunteer Rescue Squad Company 51, where she served as chief for more than 10 years, prior to the promotion. She was also the chief of the Charles County Association of Emergency Medical Services between 2002 and 2004.
"Her father would have been very proud of her," Irene Spalding said of her late husband — an emergency volunteer himself — and his daughter. "I'm very happy, but sad she could not be here."
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