Sue (Susie) Marie Goodner, 96

Sue (Susie) Marie Goodner, died Dec. 22, 2016. She was 96 years old.

Susie was born on a wheat farm at the base of Steptoe Butte, near Oakesdale, Wash., on Feb. 12, 1920. She graduated from Oakesdale High School and continued her education at Washington State College (University) where she received a degree in English.

While attending college she met her future husband and love of her life, Ray Goodner (who was studying to become a pharmacist). Due to an urgent need and shortage of teachers during World War II, she graduated early and began a career in teaching high school English.

Family, friends, nature and the arts were the cornerstones in Susie’s long and fulfilling life. She was a talented pianist, with a unique and subtle understanding and interpretation of the music of George Gershwin and Jerome Kerns. The Goodner household was often filled with music from the stereo console and the most recent vinyl LP (classical, jazz, or contemporary) that she picked up from the Crescent store.

Together, Sue and Ray created a warm and welcoming household for family, relatives and friends. She was an excellent gardener, baker and cook. Family meals were often a dynamic combination of good food (including vegetables from the garden and fresh baked bread) and open-minded conversations on politics, religion and current events. Any discussion that became too heated was quickly quelled and moderated by one of her famous fruit pies served with a scoop of ice cream.

Susie loved being outdoors and in nature. Weather it was brisk walk up to the top Steptoe Butte with her father as a young adult, hiking on Mt. Rainier, while working in the summer as the head waitress at the Paradise Dining Room, or finding the first buttercup of the season with one of her grandchildren in Northern Idaho (where she spent her retirement years). She was an expert at identifying wildflowers and a relentless wild berry picker — it was a challenge to pull her out of a berry patch!

Sue is survived by six of her children, Mike Goodner, Steve Goodner, Jeanne Davis, Gloria Hendrickson, Peggy Goodner-Tan, and Patsy Stambor; and 17 grandchildren. Though no longer with us, her youngest son, Sam, and her loving husband, Ray, most certainly took her hand and guided her though this last chapter in her long and fulfilling life.