The first ninety-one years of Sue’s life were filled with family, volunteering, education, travel, and politics. The last six years were an ever-increasing struggle with the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease (what she called her “broken brain years”). One of the most frustrating parts of her later years was no longer being able to name or recognize her beloved grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Sue was born on February 17, 1929, in Madison, Wisconsin. She moved frequently during her childhood as her professor father moved from one college to the next; as a child, she also lived in Michigan, New Jersey, and New York.

At age 17, she boarded a train by herself and traveled from her home in Garden City, New York, to Denison University in Granville, Ohio. There she made lifelong friends and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1950. She met Robert L. Marquardt at Denison; they were married on August 1,1950. They had two children, Jane and Bob, whom they raised in Dayton, Ohio, and Ogden, Utah.

In the early 1970s, Sue and Bob divorced, and Sue returned to school at the University of Utah, where she earned a master’s degree in social work in 1976. She worked in youth corrections for the State of Utah and eventually served as Assistant Director of the Utah Department of Juvenile Justice. She later served as Assistant Director of the Utah Division of Services for People with Disabilities.

She retired in 2001 and devoted the next two decades to volunteering and attending her grandchildren’s sports competitions, birthdays, weddings, and graduations. She never missed one of her grandsons’ graduations (from elementary school through high school, college, and graduate school.)

Sue’s volunteer committees and awards are legendary and too numerous to list. They include delivering food to people with AIDS through the Utah Aids Foundation in the early days of the epidemic; serving as a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader for many years; and serving as Board President of numerous organizations, including the Junior League of Ogden, the ACLU of Utah, and the Rape Crisis Center.

Sue served in nearly every imaginable volunteer position in the Presbyterian Church, including First Presbyterian Church in Ogden, Wasatch Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake, and on several of the Church’s national committees. In 1971, she became the first woman elected Moderator of the Utah Presbytery.

Sue was the consummate volunteer on countless Democratic campaigns. Despite the odds in Utah, she never gave up – an example of the resilience she demonstrated in so many areas of her life.

Sue was predeceased by her parents, Wilbert Scott Ray and Dorothy Philips Clark Ray, and her brother David Scott Ray.

She is survived by her children, Jane Ann (Tami) Marquardt and Robert Scott Marquardt; her grandsons, David (Sasha) Marquardt, Daniel (Nan) Marquardt, and Michael (Jill) Marquardt; her step-grandchildren, Jacee (Nate) Ballard and Judd (Melissa) Erickson; and her great grandchildren, Johann, Coral, Sarai, Hunter, Jack, Forest, Jordan, Nicholas Marquardt, Boston and Briggs Ballard, Dakota Erickson, and Elle Evans.

Sue’s family would like to thank her caregiver team in her later years – including Lorena, Wendy, Rosemary, Yasmina, the team at Bristol Hospice, and the many kind people who helped Sue at The Ridge Foothill.

Sue led her life believing that service is the hallmark of a life well lived. In keeping with that belief, her last act of service was donating her body to the University of Utah Body Donor Program.

A celebration of Sue’s life will be held on October 22 at 6:00 P.M. at Wasatch Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City. The services will be livestreamed at www.wpcslc.org/memorial services. Guests are invited to a reception immediately following the service in the church’s fellowship hall.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Sue’s name to Crossroads Urban Center (www.crossroadsurbancenter.org) or the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at the Cleveland Clinic (donate.thewomensalzheimersmovement.org).