Celebration of Life June 30 for Cruisin' Susan, a colorful La Conner character

A public memorial service for Susan Baum, who worked at La Conner’s iconic 1890s Inn during a colorful chapter in the town’s history, will be held from 5-7 p.m. Sunday, June 30, at Conner Waterfront Park.

Baum, fondly known to her friends as “Cruisin’ Susan,” died May 7.

Having grown up in Big Sky Country, she blended seamlessly after her arrival here into the local arts community and eclectic counterculture movement that evolved in the 1970s in La ­Conner and at nearby Fishtown on the Skagit River.

Baum embraced a non-­traditional lifestyle to the end, living in a Class A motorhome that she maneuvered to and from a favorite shoreline area campsite at the Thousand Trails Lone Tree Point Resort northwest of La Conner.

Baum took such pride in the campsite that she painstakingly graveled it and would arrive at the Thousand Trails entry gate well ahead of check-in time to improve her odds of securing the personalized spot above Skagit Bay for her scheduled three-week stays.

She earned the nickname ­Cruisin’ Susan long before buying the RV.

“She was the first one of her friends in Montana to get her driver’s license,” Trisha Baum, one of her four daughters told the Weekly News. “She could give her friends rides, which was a pretty big deal because it’s a long way between some of the places out there.”

After moving to La Conner, she was hired to tend bar at the rollicking 1890s Inn. Though a non-drinker, Cruisin’ Susan proved an ideal fit at the ‘90s and earned steadfast support from the tavern’s owners, Wendy and the late Mike Chevalier.

Baum’s greatest impact on the La Conner scene may have occurred on a vacation to ­California nearly 45 years ago.

Baum was among a group of locals who hit the road then to celebrate the birthday of Alan Shermerhorn, a U.S. Army veteran from Spokane who purchased a float shack and made his home on the Skagit River.

While in the Half Moon Bay area south of San Francisco, the La Conner contingent met a former Rutgers University student named Marc Daniel, who was hitching a ride north to Mount Shasta. Daniel, bearing an uncanny resemblance to famed rocker Frank Zappa, hopped in the car.

His planned stay at Shasta was cut short when he encountered a rattlesnake on a mountain walk.

Daniel, whose earlier travels had included attendance at the famed 1969 Woodstock Rock Festival, got back in the car and rode with Baum, Schermerhorn and the others to La Conner.

Within a few years, Daniel – henceforth known as Zappa – established himself as an accomplished promoter of popular live Skagit Valley music and concert events. In 1987, he launched an entertaining though unsuccessful campaign for mayor of La Conner.

Having forged a friendship with real estate agent Dan O’Donnell, who would win town mayoral and council elections and serve as Skagit County treasurer, Daniel purchased a home in Mount Vernon, where he continues to reside.

But his strong bond to La ­Conner, thanks in great measure to having met Baum, is an enduring one for Daniel.

“The story my mom always told was that they went on this vacation to California where they met this guy who looked like Frank Zappa and brought him home as a souvenir,” Trisha Baum said.

The memorial honoring Baum is scheduled for early evening so as not to conflict with noontime picnicking at the waterfront park and still leave time for attendees to dine together later at O’­Donnell’s American Grill and Irish Pub at the intersection of Highway 20 and La Conner-Whitney Road.

Those gathering at the park and O’Donnell’s will have plenty of stories and memories to share. After all, Cruisin’ Susan lived a unique life, even as she created new life with two sets of twins.

“She got pregnant twice, and had four girls,” Trisha Baum said.