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Note: s of her grandmother Powers getting her first car and going to Nebraska. She would drive for half a day and only meet one or two cars.
Susie loved sports and in high school lettered in basketball. She talked of skating and sledding in her younger days.
Susie left Sheridan to go to Los Angeles to attend nursing school after graduating early from high school at mid term. She says that she knew at an early age that she wanted to be a nurse. After her mother had her appendix removed she went home from the hospital and operated on her doll (the saw dust came out) . She loved the hospital.
After graduating from nursing school, she took a job as a surgical nurse in the Imperial Valley. She worked as a nurse in several fields until the birth of her first child. After her children were in their preteens, she returned to nursing. She worked the overnight shift so to be available to take her children to school and participate in their school activities. She worked in the OB department delivering many babies.
After retirement she traveled extensively around the world. She probably would have been an archeologist if not a nurse. Gordon did not like to travel so he would stay home and take care of the house, yards and pets. Her travel companion was her nursing school classmate Irene. Irene was "Aunt Irene" to Susie's children. In later years Susie and Aunt Irene would go to Hawaii every year with Susie's daughter and son-in-law. Susie parasailed off the Kona coast at the age of 90.
Susie moved to Sacremento, CA in 1997. She moved to San Marcos, CA in 2008.
Susie passed away peacefully after a brief illness April 25th. She was surrounded by family and the wonderful caregivers at Twin Oaks Gardens, San Marcos, and the Elizabeth Hospice nurse.
Susie was born on a ranch in Johnson County, Wyoming on April 12, 1912. Her ambition to become a nurse started at the early age of about five years old. She grew up and graduated from high school in Sheridan, Wyoming. Upon graduation from high school she traveled to Los Angeles to attend nursing school at LA County. She graduated from nurses training in 1932 specializing in surgery and obstetrics. She then took a position at the Imperial County Hospital as a surgical nurse.
She married Gordon Stewart in 1942 and they had three children. She took a break from nursing during the younger years of her children. She was a Blue Bird, Camp Fire Girl & Cub Scout Leader. In addition to being a room mother she was very involved and supportive of the SPARTAN Bands.
She returned to nursing and worked at El Centro Community Hospital in the Obstetric Department for over twenty years, retiring in 1978. She loved to travel and if she had not become a nurse she probably would have been an archeologist. After her retirement she traveled to many places around the world. She climbed the Great Wall of China, rode a camel and climbed the pyramids in Egypt. She took hot air balloon rides and parasailed off the Kona coast of Hawaii.
She moved from El Centro in 1996 and lived in Sacramento until 2008 when she moved to San Marcos, Ca. On April 12th she celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by her family and friends. She was a wonderful wife and mother and will be missed by her family and friends.
She was proceeded in death by her husband Gordon. She is survived by her children , Bonnie and Michael Reichle of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Ca., Burl and Patricia Van Meter Stewart of Colorado Springs, Co. and Bryan and Brenda Stewart of Yuma, Az. In addition she leaves behind grandchildren Heather, Susie, Samuel, Stephanie and Brianna and great- grandson Jack.
Service will be at Sts Peter & Paul Episcopal Church, El Centro on Friday, May 25th at 1 p.m. with internment of ashes immediately following at Evergreen Cemetery. The family requests in lieu of flowers donations be made to Elizabeth Hospice- Escondido or the charity of your choice .
Published in Imperial Valley Press Online on May 18, 2012
Note: Susie spent a lot of her childhood with her grandparents and her younger Uncle Roy. She tell
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