Susan McClaugherty Coleman, 82, left this earth peacefully in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Susan’s passing is but a pause in her 70 year love affair with her surviving husband, Bill Coleman. Susan and Bill’s first date was a junior high Halloween dance in 1953. Those who know them know their love will endure, as long as the stars will shine.
Susan was born to Jack and Maryanna McClaugherty on Nov. 8, 1940, in Bluefield. She was a 1958 graduate of Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C. Her higher education includes Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C. and Kathryn Gibbs School in New York, where she took her first job. While working in New York, she would reconnect with the love of her life, marry, and move home to West Virginia to raise her family. As her children became adults, she would return to feed her lust of learning and earn an accounting degree from West Virginia University.
She parlayed her education into a career with the Pennsylvania State Government working in the offices of the Treasurer and Secretary of State of Pennsylvania. She was a strong, independent person and she was rightfully and immensely proud of her accomplishments.
Susan was equally proud of her family. To her children, she was “Mama.” Mama was a loving mother and a keen advocate for her surviving children: Katharine, Will and Wade. In return, she asked only for good manners and tight hospital corners on well made beds. Mama was also known to many of her children’s classmates, teammates and coaches when those acquaintances were in need of a home, bed or meal. And she was thrilled to see her family grow and expand her role. She would gain three more children through the marriages of her children. Her pride and love for Scott (Katharine), Linda (Will) and Nancy (Wade) had no bounds and she loved each as her own.
And when she became a grandmother … well, she was a little sensitive to that title at first. Upon the birth of her beloved first grandchild, Elise (Katharine and Scott), she asked to be called “Susan.” Elise was happy to oblige, but could only say “Sue-Sue.” Thus, to her grandchildren Susan was “Sue-Sue.” Sue-Sue doted on her granddaughter, Elise, and did the same with each addition to the family: Buck, Charlotte (Wade and Nancy) and Maggie (Will and Linda).
Enjoying her family, expanding her education, building a career to provide for her marriage — these were her passions. (Okay, and shopping. She loved to shop. She shopped a lot.) But one can’t sum up Susan’s life without mentioning her passion and love of animals. She raised champion roosters and pigs as a little girl. As the matriarch of her household, she welcomed all animals. Literally. All of them. To be clear: Be it wild or domesticated, if it walked on four legs and entered her yard, it was neutered and had a new home.
She loved no animal more than she loved pigs. Pig trinkets. Pig Paintings. Pig pillows. Pig Christmas ornaments. Pig Shrines. Venetian glass pigs. Everything pig. And then, one day, through a chance encounter with a certain celebrity zookeeper … she administered the coup de grce of any pig obsession: she got herself a couple of Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs.
She instilled her love of animals in her children and in her children’s children. She loved and embodied the wonders of nature. Susan Mama Sue Sue, she was all of these. But to her loving husband of 57 years, she was everything. She was and is his Sweet Baboo. She will be dearly missed. Until they meet again.
In lieu of gifts or flowers, Susan’s family asks that you consider giving to one of the following organizations: Jack Hanna’s Save Animals (https://www.jackhanna.com/save-animals), or The Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium (https://www.pittsburghzoo.org/support-the-zoo).
