Suzanne Carpenter Knapp

WESTBOROUGH - Suzanne Carpenter Knapp, formerly of Lowell and Brookline, died February 10th in hospice care. She was 93.

A native of Springfield, Sue graduated in 1951from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in mathematics, a field which would open the door to a career she didn’t even know existed until she was in the middle of it. After college, she moved to MIT as the first female programmer on Whirlwind, the first real-time digital computer, at a time when the idea of a computer was to most people more science fiction than reality.

She would go on to work as a software developer on pioneering computer projects at companies including MIT Lincoln Lab, Honeywell, GTE, and Wang Laboratories.

The quilt revival of the Bicentennial years encouraged Sue to try her hand, and she soon became a noted fabric artist, winning many top prizes in quilt shows all over New England, including Best-in-Show at The Big E (New England’s six-state fair) with her quilt Castle Wall. Hand-pieced and hand-quilted, her intricate patterns glowed with color; even at a quilt show full of beautiful work, hers irresistibly drew the eye. Many of her original designs were inspired by oriental carpets; one of these, Arabian Gold, is in the permanent collection of The New England Quilt Museum in Lowell.

Sue considered each quilt, which took a year or more to make, as a labor of love rather than a commercial venture; she declined to sell them, instead giving them away to her very appreciative family and friends. Her work was featured numerous times in national and regional publications such as Quilters Newsletter Magazine, Traditional Quilter, The Boston Globe, and The Lowell Sun.

Sue moved to Lowell in the 1970s and was charmed by its rich industrial history and architecture. She moved into a renovated mill building downtown, where the tall windows, aged beams, and soaring ceilings made an ideal setting for her quilts and family antiques. She was active in many civic ventures around the reinvention of the city center as a historical district, especially the establishment of The New England Quilt Museum. Her quilt, Green Windows -- four views of Lowell as seen through the arched, green metal frames of her windows -- was chosen as the promotional image for Lowell Inside/Out, a juried exhibit of quilts celebrating Lowell’s beauty, past and present.

After the early death of Sue’s father, Harold, her mother Kenneith P. Knapp came to live with Sue in Brookline and Lowell until her own passing. Ever afterward, Sue said that her life had been greatly enriched by her mother’s company and that she had lost a great friend as well as a beloved mother.

Sue is survived by her adored younger sister, Judith Boyce of Southborough, as well as ten nieces and nephews and numerous greats and great-greats. Her treasured brother and sister, Harold Knapp of Pittsfield and Helen Savoit of Wappingers Falls, NY, predecease her, as do two cherished nieces, Sherry Harte and Suzanne (Susie) Knapp.

Donations in Sue’s memory may be made to The New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck Street, Lowell, MA 01852. Burial will be private.

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