Susan Webster ASM, a valued and much loved member of the NSW Ambulance family, passed away on Wednesday, July 7.

At her funeral on Thursday, in a fitting farewell, both NSW Ambulance and other emergency service personnel formed a guard of honour as she left on her final journey.

Michelle Rawlinson, a colleague and friend of Susan's spoke of her long and distinguished career.

"Sue started with NSW Health in 1975 as a Nurse at RPA hospital. Once Sue graduated as a registered nurse, she worked in the obstetrics / midwifery department.

"She then went on to work at King George the Fifth as the Sister in charge of the John Spence Intensive Care Hospital for newborn babies. Whilst she loved this job immensely, Sue was inspired to do more for her patients. So, after 11 years as a nurse and midwife, Sue joined Course 70 and begun her career with NSW Ambulance in 1986 as an Ambulance Officer

"She worked at Rockdale and Caringbah before transferring to Young in 1987. In 1988 Sue returned to the city to become a training officer while studying to become an Intensive Care Paramedic. This is probably where Sue's unofficial career as mum to trainees developed," she said.

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"Whilst teaching midwifery to Paramedics new and old, Sue's loving and gentle nature shone through and this was where a lot of paramedics got to make that special bond with this most generous lady.

"The start of Sue's management career was in the early 90s, she started as a Senior Station Officer at St Ives station that she moved into the Sydney division headquarters as the Inspector of Special Operations. Sue did a tremendous amount of work in strengthening bomb squad response procedures and recoveries."

In 2000 when Sydney played host to the Olympic Games, Sue was tasked with the responsibility of the ambulance response, including the logistics and planning for the entire event including the Paralympics.

She was transferred to Bathurst and worked as an Inspector for the Western Area and later on become a Superintendent in 2006.

"Sue then took on an Operational Support Manager role in 2012 where she single handedly set about giving the volunteer program structure and voice they had not had before in ambulance."

Ms Rawlinson described Sue's tenacious attitude as one of a kind.

"Just prior to her retirement, in her last year of service, Sue was awarded the highest award a Paramedic in Australia can receive - the Ambulance Service Medal. A fitting tribute to someone that had achieved so much."

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