After a brief stay in Nevada, Susan spent most of her childhood in Juneau, Alaska and Denver CO. She graduated from high school in 1965 in Silver Springs MD and pursued her teacher education through Towson State and Cal State-Hayward before graduating from the University of California-Davis in 1969. She worked in Head Start before beginning to teach kindergarten in Esparto CA. Susan married Stephen L. Taylor on June 23, 1973 in Davis CA. They were able to enjoy a memorable 5-week honeymoon in the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to Jasper, Alberta CA and on to Vancouver and Victoria BC CA. After spending two more years in Davis, they moved to Novato CA in 1975 and then to Madison WI in 1978. The couple moved to Lincoln in 1987 where they have lived since. In Lincoln, Susan did substitute teaching in Lincoln Public Schools and then became Director of Christian Education at Eastridge Presbyterian Church. Susan was devoted to the educational and spiritual development of children throughout her life both to her own children as well as many dozens of children through church, schools, day care facilities, Girl Scouts, and tutoring. She was a committed and energetic organizer of many groups including Stephen Ministry, countless church committees, PEO, TTT, Girl Scouts, Faculty Women’s Club, and Ceres. She served as a deacon and session member at church and especially enjoyed participation with the ministers in baptism ceremonies. Susan used a family inheritance to finance the construction of a children’s playground at Eastridge Presbyterian and to contribute to the construction of the Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska Hilltop House in Lincoln. With Girl Scouts, she managed to co-lead three different troops all the way to their Gold Awards. She received several awards from Girl Scouts for her contributions. After re-locating to so many different communities during her childhood and early adult years, she still enjoyed travel and managed to visit most states, numerous EU countries, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the honeymoon trip, treasured memories included galivanting through Europe with 5 other single young ladies (affectionately dubbed the Dirty Half Dozen by one host) in a VW bus in summer of 1971 and countless trips to the Kerns family cabin near Pinecliffe CO beginning in 1957.
She is survived by her spouse, Steve; daughter, Amanda (Aaron) Kalina of Highlands Ranch CO and son, Andrew (Ariel) Taylor of Englewood CO; bonus child for two years, Gabrielle (Vern) Hebert of Phoenix AZ; grandchildren, KeOwn, Bua Loi, and Nattapon (Natty) Taylor in Englewood; brothers, Don (Janice) Kerns of Rescue CA and Ed (Nancy) Kerns of Laytonsville MD; sister-ln-laws, Shari (Tim) Gale of Albany OR and Kathy (Dennis) Sharp of Mountlake Terrace WA; special cousin, Pat Brink of Dow City IA, several nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews and countless individuals who were touched in some way by her caring and boundless spirit.
Pre-deceased by her mother, father, infant brother (William), mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandparents, two aunts and one uncle.
A memorial service will be held on November 12 at 11 AM at Eastridge Presbyterian Church, 1135 Eastridge Dr., Lincoln NE. Internment will be at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, 6800 S. 14th St. in the afternoon.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Eastridge Presbyterian Church designated to the Christian Education.