Sue Welsh Reed, 89, of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Boothbay Harbor, Maine passed away gently on Nov. 19, 2025 at St. Andrews Village in Boothbay Harbor after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. 

Sue was born on April 9, 1936 to John H. and Martha (Findlay) Welsh in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The oldest of what would be three children, Sue fell in love with art at a young age. A graduate of The Buckingham School in Cambridge, she went on to major in art history at Smith College, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and later earned a master's of fine arts from Harvard University in art history.

After graduating from Smith, she married the love of her life, John S. Reed, on Valentine's Day, 1959. Sue met John in Boothbay, where they both summered in their youth. John spent summers on Southport with his aunt, Ruth Lepper Gardner, while Sue spent four summers working in Boothbay; her parents spent summers at the family farm on Dover Road in North Boothbay. She had been dating a young man with a motorcycle of whom her parents did not approve, so they arranged for Sue to meet John on a blind date. He arrived in a Model T. As it was a rather blustery evening, he tucked a blanket around her to keep her warm; she initially thought that was somewhat forward of him, but they quickly fell in love. John had just graduated from Harvard College and was a student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and the Welshes insisted that Sue graduate from Smith before they got married. 

Sue was a woman of tremendous accomplishments. After graduating from Smith, Sue began working at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she worked, from 1959 to her retirement in 2005 as Curator of Prints and Drawings. Beginning as a secretary, she worked her way up to, eventually, Curator of Prints and Drawings. Sue’s work included at least nine major exhibition catalogs, including “French Prints from the Age of the Musketeers,” “Awash in Color: Homer, Sargent and The Great American Watercolor,” “Italian Etchings of the Renaissance and Baroque," “Etchings of Jacques Bellange,” and many more.

Her work also included innumerable exhibitions, including collaborations with the National Gallery of Canada, and the Muna Bismark Foundation in Paris, France, as well as installations from the MFA’s permanent collection. In preparation for these exhibits, which were shown in Paris, Ottawa, Boston, New York, and Washington, Sue spent many hours researching material in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and other libraries in Europe. 

Upon her retirement in 2005, she was named Curator Emerita of Prints and Drawings. 

Sue was well-known to professionals outside the MFA, as well. She served as president of the Print Council of America, chair of the Visiting Committee of the Smith College Art Museum, of which she was a loyal alumna, as well as a participant in the series of American Print Conferences. She was a treasured mentor to many in the world of prints and drawings. 

One of Sue’s proudest achievements was the award of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture in 2006. 

Sue and John loved to travel, and spent much time in France and Italy, as well as England and Australia. She was always up for an adventure and always had a twinkle in her eye. She loved to recount tales of their trips on canal boats in France. They took every opportunity to combine travel with Sue’s work.

Sue is survived by her sister, Martha Welsh Goldstone of Washington, D.C. and Boothbay; her brother, John H. Welsh Jr. (Rebecca) of Boothbay; her twin daughters, Elizabeth Reed of Raleigh, North Carolina and Beatrice (Bea) Reed of East Windsor, Connecticut; as well as grandsons, James Emmerling and Nick Reed, both of New Hampshire; nephews George, Gordon and John Charles Workman and their families.

She was predeceased by her parents and her beloved husband, John S. Reed.

There will be a grand celebration of her remarkable life in the summer of 2026. 

The family wants to thank the staff and care-givers at St. Andrews Village and Beacon Hospice for their care and kindness to Sue and her family.