Susan Kelley Marker
Help us celebrate Susan! Please share your stories and photos, and invite others who remember Susan.
Susan Kelley Marker of Medina, WA bade farewell on November 6, 2021, and peacefully embarked on the next steps of her journey.
The daughter of Ronald and Betty Kelley, Susan was born on December 1, 1941 in Snohomish, WA and was raised in Mt. Vernon, WA. She attended Washington State University where she met her future husband, Chris Marker. She graduated in 1964 with a degree in education, and she and Chris married in 1966. Their early life together included multiple corporate relocations (Westin Hotels), including a four-year family adventure with two young children in Johannesburg, South Africa. They settled in Medina, WA nearly forty-one years ago. With uncommon grace, Susan made every new community feel like home, and the friendships she helped build would remain central to our lives.
Susan was a beautiful, kind, and thoughtful soul. Her genuine warmth, sincerity and grace drew people to her, and her strength of character and Irish charm kept them close. While our hearts ache with a loss which came much too soon, we will be forever grateful for being blessed with our loving, elegant and vibrant Wife, Mom, Grammy, Sister, Aunt and Friend. We honor her by loving each other, carrying on family traditions, and living each day to the fullest; we are comforted knowing that she will for evermore walk at our side.
Susan leaves behind her beloved husband and forever partner Chris; her daughter Allison Rider (Todd); her son Todd Marker (Karissa); her adored grandchildren Anna and Petra Rider and Colton and Amelia Marker; and her two brothers, Bill Kelley and Tom Kelley and their families. She was greeted in Heaven by her loving parents Ron and Betty, in-laws Darrell and Anne Marker and brother-in-law Peter Marker.
At Susan's request, we will be celebrating her life in a private family ceremony. In her memory, find something to appreciate each day, and tell those you love what they mean to you. For those who have asked, memorial gifts can be made to the R.L. Kelley Excellence in Education Scholarship at Washington State University (PO Box 641925, Pullman 99164) in recognition of our family's 90-year Coug legacy.