After more than 20 years of serving as a heroine to local people living with HIV/AIDS, Suzanne Caves has passed.
Caves was born in Seattle, Washington in 1927 and moved to Belmont Shore as a young girl. After she graduated from Wilson High School, she headed up north again and attended the University of Washington, where she met her future husband John.
After they married, they lived in Northridge for a few years, until Caves moved back to Long Beach in 1972. In her later years, Caves lived in Signal Hill, where she became involved in Friends of Signal Hill Cultural Arts and worked as a docent at Rancho Los Cerritos. She also became a realtor but, following her son’s death from AIDS in 1986, she left the real estate business to co-found Families Who Care, a nonprofit organization that supported families of those living with the disease.
Among her many contributions, she also founded the Long Beach Names Project, was the executive director of AIDS Services Long Beach, was a founding member and chairperson of the Long Beach AIDS Walk, served as volunteer coordinator for Being Alive, established and facilitated a weekly support group for families, and facilitated the expansion of the Meals on Wheels program to include persons living with HIV/AIDS.
She is survived by her sons, Robert and Casey, her daughter Kelly, her brother Clegg Crawford, daughters-in-law Sandy and Annette, and seven grandchildren- Sarah, Lauren, Michael, Elise, Katie, Dylan and Keegan.
A memorial service is planned for Sept. 6. Instead of flowers, donations can be sent to Friends of Rancho Los Cerritos, 4600 Virginia Rd., Long Beach, CA 90807.
