Sometimes Susan Ellis was sitting quietly through a long public meeting, notebook open, listening as officials debated decisions that would shape daily life on St. Croix.
Other days, she was out following up on reports of abused or abandoned animals, asking questions about how those cases were investigated and whether the systems meant to protect them were working.
That range — from the routine rhythms of civic life to the issues that stirred deep concern in the community — defined Susan’s decades of work as a journalist in the Virgin Islands.
The Virgin Islands Source newsroom — and the St. Croix community she loved so deeply — is mourning the loss of Susan, a veteran reporter whose writing helped capture the everyday life, challenges, and character of the territory she called home.
Susan died March 7, 2026, at Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix. She was 79.
Susan was born June 2, 1946, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and spent her early years in Wyoming before studying journalism and earning a bachelor’s degree from Mesa State University. She later raised her two daughters in Colorado before moving to St. Croix in 1993.
Susan joined the Virgin Islands Source in 2013 after years of reporting for the St. Croix Avis. Over time, her byline became a familiar one across the island and throughout the territory.
She showed up wherever the story was — from hospital board meetings and legislative hearings to community gatherings that reflected the culture and traditions of island life. Her stories often explored the deeper threads that shape the community, from agricultural traditions and bush cook culture to the history preserved at places like the Whim Museum.
But Susan was also drawn to issues that touched the territory’s most pressing challenges.
She wrote about the state of mental health care in the Virgin Islands and followed ongoing conversations about how the territory could expand services and support for families navigating those challenges.
She also took a solutions-oriented look at the long and complicated history of the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, exploring how the utility might move forward more effectively for residents across the territory.
Her love of animals shaped some of her most determined reporting. Susan wrote about animal cruelty cases on St. Croix and examined the systems meant to investigate them, reporting on community concerns about enforcement and the creation of additional animal cruelty investigator positions within the Virgin Islands Police Department.
For Susan, that work was personal. She volunteered regularly with animal rescue organizations and spent time helping care for dogs at the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center.
Those who knew her say the same qualities that drove her reporting — curiosity, empathy, and determination — defined her life beyond the newsroom as well.
Before returning to journalism, Susan spent years working with Lutheran Social Services on St. Croix, helping support the Queen Louise Home for Children and assisting with the annual fundraiser that sustained the orphanage’s programs.
Ellie Hirsch, one of the founders of the Children’s Museum of St. Croix, came to know Susan during those years when she worked alongside Hirsch’s husband, Chris Finch, at Lutheran Social Services.
Among other tasks, Susan and Finch helped organize the annual fundraiser for the Queen Louise Home for Children.
Susan always displayed “grace under pressure,” Finch said, recalling her “tireless activities” preparing for the major annual event. Even after weeks of sleepless nights preparing for the reliably successful fundraiser each year at Carambola Resort, Susan maintained a completely pleasant demeanor throughout the weeklong, high-energy activities, Finch said.
As a reporter, Finch said, “she was fair and understood the full picture from multiple angles,” which he described as “a measure of her intelligence.”
Cassandra Dunn, former Water and Power Authority public information officer and now president of the Yvonne Ashley Galiber Breast Cancer Foundation, said Susan approached journalism with deep empathy.
“A story was not just news to Susan,” Dunn said. “She really cared about the things that were happening in the community.”
Friends say that same compassion shaped every part of Susan’s life.
“Caring, concerned, giving and kind,” is how one friend described her.
Susan also loved the ocean and the natural beauty of the island. Just weeks before her passing, she was snorkeling with a group of longtime friends who called themselves the “swimmin’ women,” taking to the water on Fridays whenever the seas allowed before gathering for lunch together afterward.
For more than a decade at the Virgin Islands Source — and for many years before that at the St. Croix Avis — Susan helped document the life of the islands she loved so deeply.
Susan believed journalism mattered — that it could inform a community, hold institutions accountable, and preserve the stories that make a place what it is.
And she carried that belief into every story she told.
Susan is survived by her daughters, Sandra and Ashley; her grandchildren Connor, Cole and Maeve; and great-grandchildren Ivee and Milo, along with siblings, extended family members, and a wide circle of friends.
Because of her deep love of the ocean and the natural beauty of St. Croix, Susan chose to be laid to rest at sea.
A gathering in Susan’s memory is planned for 5 p.m. Friday at Dorsch Beach on St. Croix. Her family has asked friends to consider making a donation to Ruff Start St. Croix in her memory.
The entire Virgin Islands Source team extends its deepest condolences to her daughters, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, her loved ones, and the many friends in the St. Croix community who were like family to her.
She will be greatly missed.
