Obituary
Suzanne Lockridge passed away on July 6, 2024. She is survived by her partner John Davis, her nephew Randall Lockridge and his wife Dawn Grosser, and their children Morgan, Aaron, and Lauren.
Suzanne was born October 17, 1950, to Herman and Lorraine Lockridge in Houston, Texas, where she grew up and attended Stephen F. Austin High School. She graduated from the University of Texas in Austin in 1979 with a BA in Studio Art.
Her first job after graduation was in Dallas as a scenic painter for a scenic design company owned by Peter Wolf, a nationally celebrated theater stage designer, author, and teacher.
In 1983, she started on a track that would guide the rest of her life. Her aunt and mentor, Irene Corey, was a pioneer makeup and costume designer, a producer of a successful theater company, an author of seminal textbooks on makeup and costume design, and a teacher. Together, Irene and Suzanne created Irene Corey Design Associates (later IC Costumes Design), specializing in custom-ordered, custom-made costumes, body puppets, multimedia sculpture, and props, all made from foam, fabric, and other needed materials.
They created costumes for theatrical productions and corporate characters for marketing purposes. Some of their creations included Barney the Purple Dinosaur, along with Baby Bop and BJ, Chick-fil-A cows, Half-Price Book bookworms, and Firefox foxes. Barney was the most famous of their creations, and they were the only ones allowed to make Barney, Baby Bop, and BJ for the PBS series and the Barney movie. In addition, they produced angel wings for Christmas pageants across the country. Depending on the demand for the costumes, there were up to five employees crafting away. Irene officially retired at the age of 80 in 2005 and Suzanne took over the business, until she retired in 2015.
Suzanne continued her interest in art by specializing in figure drawings at Michael O’Keefe Studios in Richardson, Texas. She also continued her interest in practicing Yoga.
She married Wayne Braddick in 1984 and was divorced in 1995. She married John Perry, a former Army medic in the Vietnam War, in 2010, and he passed away from brain cancer in 2012.
She met John Davis in 2014 while taking dance lessons from Lori Hayner (now owner and teacher at You Can Dance Dallas) at the White Horse Saloon and he became her partner for life. She shared many activities with him.
• Dancing country and western, ballroom, and swing dances.
• Bicycling twice in the Lancaster County ride and once in the Hotter ‘n Hell 100 ride.
• Traveling internationally to St. Martin, China, Mongolia, England, and France.
• Hosting many dinner parties with her friends and John’s friends.
• Helping to take care of John’s triplet grandchildren from time to time.
More than once Suzanne said about John, “I’m having the time of my life with him.”
Suzanne said that some of her favorite things to do were being with her Aunt Irene at the cutting table, sewing for herself, making her own clothes, and cooking for dinner parties. Moosewood Cookbook was one of her favorite cookbooks. She liked to experiment and try variations of the recipes. Her apple pies were legendary, both works of art and delicious.
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