Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Suzanne WISTER
Suzanne Wister Fuguet Eastwick, 84, who was active in numerous historic preservation projects including Bartram Gardens and Independence Hall, died Oct. 9 at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Mrs. Eastwick resided at Springhead Farm in Paoli.
Born into the Wister family, whose members have lived in the Philadelphia area for nine generations, Mrs. Eastwick remained devoted to Grumblethorpe, the historic country home the Wisters built in Germantown in 1744. She was offering suggestions for restoration of some of its rooms and the reconstruction of its gardens at the time of her death.
The daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. James Wilson Wister of Germantown, Mrs. Eastwick attended school in Chestnut Hill. She graduated from the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy, now affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
The historic restoration of Colonial houses was one of her lifelong interests.
She and her husband, Joseph Eastwick, who is now deceased, were involved in restoring the small house at 330 S. Third St., once the home of William Wister, one of the signers of the colonial currency. They also undertook the restoration of the Thomas Neville house, at 334 S. Fourth St. Both were residences of the Eastwicks for many years.
It was while the Eastwicks were involved in the Neville house project that they became involved with the Friends of Independence National Historic Park.
Hobart G. Cawood, the park superintendent, recalled that Mrs. Eastwick had been involved in the restoration of the reception room in the West Wing of Independence Hall.
At the time of the nation's Bicentennial in 1976, Mrs. Eastwick donated several items to the park, including a land deed with the great seal of John Penn, the provincial governor who was William Penn's son. The deed is on display in the governor's council chambers at Independence Hall.
But throughout her life, Mrs. Eastwick retained a special affection for Grumblethorpe, at 5267 Germantown Ave. She wrote a book about its gardens that was published by the Herb Society of America in 1963.
"We look to this piece of work as a reference for our restoration of the garden," said Winnie Blackwell, a member of Grumblethorpe's Women's Committee.
Charles Jones Wister Jr., who died in 1910, was the last Wister to reside at Grumblethorpe. Mrs. Eastwick delighted in recalling visits to the great house.
"She was a tiny child, but she remembered coming to the gardens," Blackwell said.
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