Barbara "Sue" Roeder

Heaven opened its gates on July 6th to welcome a beautiful lady, our Mom. Except for my sister and I, you would know her as Barbara “Sue” Roeder. Sue was born in Washington DC to Harry Phillip Brightman and Mildred LeRoy Doughten Brightman on March 14th, 1936.

This is dedicated to her memory and to reinforce to all that kindness and good humor created in this wonderful person. Known by most as Sue, she was the epitome of this quality.

One of Mom’s favorite past times was playing scrabble with family and friends. She always claimed she couldn’t make a word with her letters, but she seemed to always be able to pluralize ours.

Able to laugh at herself, and teaching us that no one is perfect, so enjoy your imperfections. You may have heard of Yogi Berra? He played baseball in Brooklyn, in the days when our Mom lived there. He was famous for his Yogi isms. Maybe that’s why Mom came up with her Sue isms? She insisted that I mention to you all some of these errors in word usage, in hopes that you too would laugh. Some examples include; “When I pass, I’d like to be circumcised.”

When our Dad died in 1991, Mom called and said I think I’ll trade his car in and get a 98 Oldsmobile. I said Mom, it’s 1991, you can’t get a 98 Olds, but you can get a 1991 Olds 98. On New Years of 1998, she called and said, I guess I can get that 98 Olds now.

We grew up in the days of a single-family income. Mom didn’t know a lot about the world, but as a homemaker, she was second to none. I never realized how smart she was, until I left to join the service, and I would call home to ask, “what is your meatloaf recipe? Or how do I get a stain out of my shirt.” She taught us how to be self-sufficient, and always had time to talk about any problems we might be going through as young adults. “Without rain, we can’t appreciate sunshine.” Was often her advice.

So I consider myself, as I know my sister does as well, to have been raised by this special person. To that I say, we can shed a tear because she is gone, or we can smile because she was in our lives. We can pray that one day she will return, or we can open our eyes and witness all that she gave us. I know she is looking down on us and grateful for how we became an image of her. Instead of turning our backs on tomorrow, so that we can live in yesterday. She wished that all that she met in her life be happy for a tomorrow, because of yesterday.

Married to Walter Jay Roeder, Jr. on February 2, 1957 and together they raised two children Deborah Kay (Kim) (McKean), West Bountiful, Utah, and Steven Jay Roeder (Rebecca) St Petersburg, Florida. She was also blessed with 5 grandchildren Matthew (Cameo) McKean, Nicole (Michael) McKean-Alvarado, Christopher McKean and Natalie McKean all from Utah, and Bayli Roeder from Florida. Two great grandchildren, Gracie McKean and Julian Alvarado with a third great grandchild, Winston McKean on the way in October 2020.

Our family is forever grateful to the Earthly Angels at the Summit Hospice team for their loving care. She will be reunited with our Dad in a graveside celebration of life on September 24th at the Riverside Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.