Suzy Malloy and her family live by a creed: all in, all the time. For her, service isn’t something you add to your life when things are easy, but how you live when everything gets hard. And when you think you’ve done enough, Malloy will encourage you to dig even deeper.
Growing up in New Jersey, Malloy idolized her parents. They were deeply in love, and it echoed throughout their home despite her father’s long absences as a Merchant Marine.
“When he was home for those two-month breaks in between, it was almost like he was unemployed. He took us fishing and always had an after-school snack ready for when we got home,” she remembered.
When Malloy was a freshman in high school at just 18 years old, her mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She became her caregiver, forgoing her initial college plans for nuclear engineering and instead pursuing mathematics at a local college.
“They didn’t give her long to live from the diagnosis, and she’s like, ‘I’m not going to die until my youngest children graduate high school.’ And God bless her, she did,” Malloy shared. “I was her caregiver, and I just adored her. Yes, I’m sad that she died, but it was a gift to me to get to know her as the wonderful woman that she was.”
Just three days after her mother died, Malloy met her future husband, Ron. She calls that a “God moment. Early on in dating, he told her he wanted to join the Navy.
“I told him to go have fun with that,” she laughed.
Despite her comments, they stayed together. Ron not only enlisted in the United States Navy but worked his way through BUD/S training and became an elite Navy SEAL attached to SEAL Team 8. The couple dated for almost six years and then married.
Malloy had a thriving career as a fraud analyst for companies such as American Express and Macy’s. It was a job she loved but one that wouldn’t transfer from New York City to Virginia Beach, where her husband was stationed.
“I gave up my career to follow him. He assured me it would be just two more years. Anyone can do something [for] that short of a time period, right? But then tragedy struck again,” Malloy shared.
Ron’s sister was killed in a horrific car accident, and the family was left without the means to bury her. When he went to his command, they put a reenlistment bonus in front of him. Those two years turned into six years before they could move back home to New Jersey. During that time, Ron became an officer, and they had three children.
“Like so many other spouses before me and after me, Ron’s career took precedence, and we followed him,” Malloy explained. “The early years were beautiful but tough. We didn’t make a lot of money. I was on WIC [a program for Women, Infants, and Children] with my first two children. One of our children had a high lead content, which the Navy wasn’t checking at their pediatricians at the time, but WIC did. So I’m always forever grateful for those programs.”
Malloy was also candid about using food banks to make ends meet when the finances wouldn’t stretch. Though she held jobs off and on throughout his career, she leaned into volunteering.
“I’ve always been a volunteer at heart, and I’ve always said as I’ve gotten older, I always wanted to be the military spouse I used to need,” she said.
After Ron led SEAL Team 7 as its commanding officer in California, the family settled back into Virginia Beach for what they thought was their final move. But, as the military does, her husband received orders to the United States Special Operations Command. She’ll tell you she cried the whole way down I-95 to Tampa, Florida, and felt miserable about the move.
“My husband said to me, ‘Until you give this place a chance, it’ll never give you a chance.’ And he was right,” Malloy recalled.
The family quickly made the Tampa Bay area home, and all three of her children graduated from high school there. Two have homesteaded, both with thriving careers. Her oldest son became a pilot in the United States Air Force, a career he once told his mom allowed him to follow in his father’s footsteps without living in his shadow.
During those years, Malloy stayed busy supporting various nonprofit organizations like the Navy SEAL Foundation, Friends of SOCOM, USO, and Support Our Troops. And with her mind and passion for math, she was always tutoring youth and helping them work through their struggles.
In 2021, Blue Star Families hired Malloy, and she became executive director of its Tampa Bay chapter. Under her leadership, the community has thrived.
“It really was all of my volunteering that landed me in this position. What talents that you give away for free really are developing you as a human being [and] could come back to you tenfold, and it did in this job,” Malloy explained.
The chapter puts on hundreds of events each year and pours into the military families attached to MacDill Air Force Base and the local Coast Guard units spread across the bay.
“I want to be there and show up for the next generation of spouses in a way that I needed it. There weren’t many programs back when I first started as a military spouses. I just want to make sure that I am doing what I can to give back to those that serve our country,” Malloy said.
Malloy is quick to credit her team for the success they’ve achieved with their chapter. From Nourish the Service programming to connection events, they are devoted to ensuring that spouses and children in the Tampa area feel seen, heard, understood, and supported.
“My husband and I have a family creed and a family motto, and it’s ‘All in, all the time. And when you think you’ve done enough, do more.’ And that is how we’ve raised our children, and that is how we operate on the daily,” she said.
When her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, she leaned heavily on her faith and close-knit family as they navigated his treatment and then his eventual retirement after more than 30 years of faithful service.
In 2024, when back-to-back hurricanes ripped through Florida, Malloy and her husband lost their home. Days later, as she was trying to rebuild her life while living in an Airbnb, she showed up for a Blue Star Families event to feed military spouses, because that’s just who she is.
In a world where military life can feel isolating and wildly unpredictable, Malloy has a message for the spouses of Tampa Bay: You don’t have to do this alone.
“I’m grateful to have a wonderful team here in Tampa,” Malloy said. “And if you’re in the Tampa Bay area and we haven’t served you, please reach out. We’d love to connect with all of you. Veterans, active duty, retirees, gold stars. We’re here to serve everybody.”
You can learn more about the Blue Star Families Tampa Bay chapter by visiting https://bluestarfam.org/chapters/tampa/.
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