from the Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association

Harrisburg, PA — Susan Brickell, one of the most stalwart of supporters and workers on the Pennsylvania fair circuit and the winner of the 2008 Mary Lib Miller Award, the highest honor given by the Keystone Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association, died after a long and courageous battle with cancer in Florida on May 19, 2018, one month before her 68th birthday.

At the time of her passing she was with her husband Dean and brother-in-law David.

Mrs. Brickell, based in Rochester Mills, Pa., about 75 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, served as clerk of course at the majority of fairs in Pennsylvania over the last couple of decades, and also was a race secretary, a charter, and a board member of the Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association. She trained a generation of people how to serve in the various functions needed to keep the fairs going. Her work supporting the fair horsemen and helping to make their financial situations secure earned her the 2008 Mary Lib Miller Award.

An accomplished horsewoman involved with several breeds of horses, one of her favorite horses was the trotter B S Woody, who raced from age two to age ten. As a 3-year-old in 2005, B S Woody, whom Mrs. Brickell trained and co-owned with Dean, won his last 11 races on the fair circuit, and then won the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes championship at Pocono.

A memorial service for Mrs. Brickell is tentatively being planned for her birthday, June 19. Updates on that event, and further information about her life, will be posted when available.