Susan C. Wendel, a former community outreach specialist for the Baltimore County Department of Aging and who was known for her compassion in working with vulnerable adults, died July 22 of a glioblastoma at Agape Care in Summerville, South Carolina. She was 63.

“Susan served the older adult community and she was extremely dedicated and very supportive of them and her co-workers and the program,” said Mary Pivar, division chief of Baltimore County’s Long Term Services and Support and manager of Community Outreach and Maryland Access.

“She had a wonderful sense of their needs and challenges as adults. She felt deeply for them and their needs,” Ms. Pivar said.

The daughter of Edward “Ed’ Crawford, a Maryland Department of Health psychologist, and Patricia Dulin Crawford, an office manager, Susan Crawford was born in Reisterstown and raised there until moving with her family to Towson.

She was a 1978 graduate of Loch Raven High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Salisbury University, where she had been a member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.

From 1982 to 1985, she was Head Start nutrition coordinator for Baltimore City and Baltimore County.

In 1985, she began working as a recruiter for Kelly Services, and held that position for four years.

Ms. Wendel then returned to Kelly Services in 1995 and continued working there as a recruiter until 2001 when she joined the Baltimore County Department of Aging as a home team coordinator.

In that role, she directed volunteers who served as friendly visitors for homebound county seniors 60 and older, or kept in touch with them by phone.

In 2005, Ms. Wendel became a community outreach specialist for the agency, whose mission was to connect older county residents to community resources. Outreach workers evaluated their clients’ needs and assisted them with benefits and services. They also assisted them with rent evictions, power turnoffs, tax sales, food stamps, food shortages and home repairs.

“Clients considered Susan their Angel,” her husband of 39 years, Joseph “Joe” Wendel, wrote in an email. “Often these emergencies would occur late in the afternoon or before weekends and holidays. She worked tirelessly and would even pay for food out of her pocket to see that the senior clients could get through the weekend or holiday before other services could begin.”

Ms. Wendel was assigned to the agency’s office in the Warren Place Apartments in Cockeysville.

Cecelia Schoeberlein worked with Ms. Wendel for 17 years in the same capacity as an outreach specialist.

“Susie was supremely compassionate when it came to our clients who were the vulnerable, isolated, homebound or were lower income,” she said. “She was sincerely interested in their welfare and their needs whether it be food or long-term care. She wanted to get them help.”

Ms. Schoeberlein, who retired earlier this year, added: “She was not judgmental and she enjoyed everything she did in her role in bringing joy to her clients. She was just a wonderful addition to our program.”

She said that Ms. Wendel was “well-loved.”

“She maintained an open-door policy in her office and that some residents of the apartments would start their day coming down in their bathrobes and slippers to talk to Susie,” Ms. Schoeberlein said. “She was the kind of person who wanted to make sure seniors would be heard. She was a bright light for us and we will miss her.”

While the caseload was heavy, specialists kept up with their clients and would see them every three months.

“She loved going out and seeing people in their homes. She was very caring, very friendly and connected well with people that first time,” Ms. Pivar said. “It’s a very rewarding job that has its challenges, but that’s why Susan stayed so long.”

Ms. Wendel, who had lived in Perry Hall for nearly four decades, retired in 2022, and moved that year to Four Seasons, a retirement community in Summerville.

“Susan had a big heart and was always willing and able to lend a hand to those who needed it,” her husband wrote in his eulogy.

Ms. Wendel and her husband, retired CFO of Ellicott Dredges LLC, shared a passion for traveling by steamship and had been on more than 20 ocean and river voyages.

She was also an avid collector of shoes, purses, jewelry, candles, wreaths and pillows.

But perhaps her most significant passion was Christmas. “She loved Christmas and must have collected thousands of vintage ornaments,” her husband said in a phone interview.

A celebration of life gathering will be held at 11 a.m. Aug. 24 at Camp Chapel United Methodist Church at 5000 E. Joppa Road in Perry Hall.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by a daughter, Blaire Wendel, of Queens, New York.