Susanne Bachtel, a member of the Falls Church City Council from 1988 to 1992, died at the Goodwin House in Greater Falls Church last week at age 87. She was born in Toledo, Ohio on December 20, 1937. She suffered from dementia in her later years.
Bachtel was elected to the F.C. City Council in May 1988 as part of a slate of candidates backed by the Falls Church Citizens Organization that opposed the majority on the Council at the time over hot button issues at the time like the location of the new girls’ home. Prior to that, she was an active participant in the Stop I-66 campaign. She was active in the Nature Conservancy, Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, and Clarendon United Methodist Church.
Susie is preceded in death by her parents Hannah Mae and George Bachtel, sister Mary Louise (Shaidnagle) Cowan and brother Dick Bachtel. Survivors include her sister Jeanie Deutschman (Massillon, OH) and several nieces and nephews. She graduated from Massillon High School in June 1955 and Ohio State University in 1959. She worked in a variety of private industry jobs in Ohio until she moved to Virginia in 1965, where he worked as administrative associate for the director of Policy Studies in Science and Technology at The George Washington University, executive assistant to the director at the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), and special assistant to the director at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), retiring in 2003 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
A memorial service will be held later this Spring at Goodwin House. In lieu of flowers, the public is urged to consider a donation to an environmental group.
