Susan Jeanette Briggs-Spitler

Hi everyone! Thank you for coming out today to celebrate my mom, Susie! She would be much honored to see all of you today. I have the privilege of talking about her life today and sharing some of our favorite stories about her. Today we celebrate our mom, wife, grandma, sister, sister in-law, aunt, friends…. Susan Jeanette Briggs-Spitler was born on April 8, 1947 to Juneita and Thomas Berry. She was born and grew up in Colorado Springs, CO. She was an only child for several years until Barbara was born in 1953. Next came Tom and much later, Robert. Susie attended Buena Vista Elementary, West Junior High and Palmer High School. She was a cheerleader in junior high and involved in business classes in high school. On St. Patrick’s Day, 1965, Susie and her best friend, Maryann, were at Jay’s Drive-In eating lunch. Jays was one of those places where you ordered and ate your food from your car and a huge hang out for teenagers. On this day, David Briggs and Mike Hanthorn were bar hopping on foot, drinking green beer in celebration, and climbed in the back of Susie’s car. As Susie would tell the story – one of her very favorite stories to tell – David told them a few dirty jokes and then invited them to come and see him at the Crazy Cat where he tended bar. Susie waited until April 8th, her 18 birthday, when she cold finally old enough to go to bars. She walked in to the Crazy Cat where she way him sitting at the bar with girls all around him. He left all of them to come over and talk with her. A short six month courtship then led to an October wedding. Two years later, they had me and two years later, came my sister, Chris. My parents built a life together in Colorado Springs. They lived in the south part of the city until they bought a house on the West side of town on 18th Street. Mom always worked in the finance industry in some form. She was a drive through bank teller at one point and was actually robbed at gun point. She worked for Avco Financial for most of her career in Colorado Springs. In 1985, my parents decided to make the move to Arizona so my dad cold pursue a new job with Massa Glass. They looked at the opportunity as a chance to try something new, advance my dad’s career, and live in the valley of the sun. My mom loved the sun, the heat and was all too happy to head south. They bought a house in Mesa, AZ. Mom again worked in finance industry there and even grew her own career to a branch manager with Citi Financial. In July of 2000, my dad passed away suddenly. After 35 years of marriage she found herself alone. It was a very dark time for all of us but no one more than my mom. She, in many ways, was completely lost without him. She was lonely and depressed for a very long time. A few years after my dad dies, she bought a little patio home and moved away from the home that they shared. It was a chance to move forward and begin life again. However, the new home didn’t really provide the happiness that she thought it would. After five years of living without my dad, I convinced her to join an online dating service. She was very reluctant at first. I thought it would be great for her to have some friends to go out to dinner with; something to look forward to and help ease some of the loneliness. It wasn’t long until a new chance at love presented itself. Robert Spitler, Bob, gave her a wink on the dating website, took her to dinner on December 12, 2004 and they never looked back. Bob offered the chance to be happy again. He offer her companionship and love. They both sold their houses and bought a new one together in Sun Lakes. They were engaged on Christmas Eve, 2006, and were married on June 16, 2007. They created a new life together making new friends and enjoying living in their retirement community. My mom was very proud of the life she built with Bob. They enjoyed decorating and home improvement, shopping, and happy hours at the club hous in their Sun Lakes’ friends. Not only did she gain a man who loved her very mch but a new extended family as well! Two more daughters became hers; Mindy and Tracy, their spouses Scott and Juan. And don’t forget the grandkids! Five more grandkids to add to her family! She loved that! I will be forever grateful that Bob and Susie met and had an amazing 10 years together. As I was writing about my mom, I kept wishing I could call her for some specific details! I know the stories! But, like most kids, specific details aren’t important…that is until you need them. I enlisted the help of a few who knew her best and then this turned into asking a lot of people their memories of Susie. Here is what people said about her… Bob talked of their companionship, her loyalty, friendship and loving heart. He said she was dedicated and so much fun to be with! She was special! By far, what stands out is that she loved her family!!! He has loved the past 11 years with Susie and feels very lucky to have had the time he has had with her. Chrissy and I could probably go on for hours with or memories but the one thing that I will probably always conjure p memories for her was the smell of her hand lotion. She wore Jergens hand lotion – cherry almond and the original scent. Just recently I had put some of the same lotion on my hands and Delaney walked in to the room and said that it smelled like Grandma Susie had just been here. Her best friend, My Auntie Mern, said that her favorite things to think about my mom is them as young girls. The silly things they did together as kids, giggling so hard they would literally pee their pants, being young and finding love, to having babies and more responsibilities. She commented on how hard of a worker my mom was but that she always had time for her friends and family! My Aunt Barbie, six years younger than Susie, expressed that she really couldn’t remember my mom as a little girl. By the time Barbie was old enough, my mom was off doing her teenage thing with friends. There was too much of an age gap for them to be friends as young kids. As adults, they were always giggly and close. All of the siblings were. I asked Barby what would be her one thing she would like to have included in this memory. She talked about how my mom was the epitome that the thought that no matter what life handed you, you can handle it. She led her families with wisdom and courage and always with a smile. She was like a Timex watch. She could take a licking and keep on ticking. Her brother Tim had the opportunity to see her a few times in the last year. He loved the way he could make her laugh. Through his crazy stories and jokes, he could make her giggle like on one else. His twin daughter’s Kelly and Kylie, also had many fun memories of swimming in her pool and her distinct giggle. Robert, her youngest brother, said he could only thing of funny things about her. Thinks like her special dip, thunderbutt, her being 5feet tall in the 6th grade. He was laughing recently about a picture posted on Facebook from one of our cousins in New York. He asked who the woman in the picture was with all of the cousins…it was Susie. The irony of that is she never grew after 6th grade. He remembers the stories of Susie and Marryann taking him to Jay’s Drive-In when he was a baby…propped up in between them without a car seat. Jay’s was where all the cool kids hung out. And then taking him home when he would start to cry. He talked about how my parents would go down to Tempe to tailgate for the Cardinals when they played in Sun Devil’s Stadium and then leave their tickets on the curb and going home and watch the game. My mom called Rob her high school graduation present because he was literally born a few days after her graduation from high school. Terry, my husband, son-in-law – also remembered the many evenings spent drinking beer and shooting the bull. Bt what stands out the most to him was when she would flick you on the forehead when you were acting stupid. Yes, many of us got flicked. Taylor, her first grandchild, who is off in her first year of college and couldn’t be here today, remembers loving a pair of Christmas tree earrings Grandma Susie always wore. As a little girl, she didn’t have pierced ears but Grandma Susie said she would save them for her for when she did. True to word, in 6th grade, she sent Taylor those earrings knowing she would now wear them. Delaney’s favorite memory of Grandma Susie is her lasagna. Truly one of my mom’s signature dishes. If there was ever a big gathering, you could bet it would be something she would make. She always said that it was better the next day! Matt’s memory shows the tougher side of Grandma Susie…he remembers when she took him and Taylor to Dairy Queen for ice cream and then took it away from them because they had started fighting. Tyler’s favorite memory is when Grandma let him, Matt, Taylor and Delaney sleep outside on night when staying over with her. When I first texted Mindy to ask her favorite memory, she immediately responded Susie’s deviled eggs. They loved her eggs! Susie would make them for Lauren all of the time. She then texted back a little while later and said that a special thing about Susie was how she welcomed them all with open arms when she and Bob got married! She said that never treated her like a stepdaughter or her girls like step-grandchildren. They were instant family! When Mindy asker her girls, Lauren and Emma their favorite memories they both said her deviled eggs! Lauren also remembered a time that Grandma Susie let the girls, Taylor, Delaney, Lauren, and Emma go wild in her closet and put on a fashion show with all of her clothes. Tracy wanted to pass along how Susie always had toys out for the kids to play with when they came over to their house. She would take them outside to play when no one else wanted to. Of course, the last few weeks have provided lots of conversations with family and friends. I have to say that the one thing that keeps coming out is her famous dip…appropriately named Thunderbutt. I can’t tell you how many people have talked about that dip! It is simple dip that she would make a huge crockpot of. The recipe is simple: brown hamburger, melt a whole block of Velveta cheese and then pour hot chili beans and a whole jar of jalepenos…juice and all. Hence the name Thunderbutt. Many friends made it last week for the football games in honor of my mom. I understand the ladies of Sun Lakes have also made it for today’s celebration at their home. Something to look forward to! She loved football! Her first loved team was the Denver Broncos. Every Sunday we would watch the game when we lived in Colorado. Then when we moved to Arizona, they still love the Broncos but adopted the Cardinals to show support of the home town team. Both teams played yesterday…one much better than then other. If she had been with us yesterday, I know she would have her Bronco sweatshirt on for the first game and then changed into her Cardinal shirt for the next. After the outcomes of yesterday’s game, maybe Susie like the Bronco’s a little bit better than the Cardinals?? I think my favorite memories are of the time our family spent water skiing! We would go with several families every summer to a lake down by Durango. We would camp for a week and just play! My mom was a very good water skier! She had her very own slolom ski! Each afternoon, we would all load into the boats and go for a ride. There was an area on the lake called Bancus Canyon. Our ride would always end there. She would be the first to put on her life jacket as we entered the canyon. It was fun to hear the clicks of the life jackets as everyone prepared for what came next. The next was that once the boats cut their motors, the last ones in the water had to cook dinner. You could heat the motor cut and see people bailing out of all sides of the boat before the boats were actually still! I am sure we were quite the site. These vacations were always enjoyable for all of us. These were the times that I remember her being the most relaxed and truly having fun. Another common reflection about my mom is what amazing work ethic she had. She absolutely loved to go to work! This is a lady who never missed a day of work for the first two times she went through breast cancer and chemo therapy. She would plan her chemo therapies for Friday afternoon and be back to work on Monday! Honestly, her final words that she spoke to us were to tell us she had to go to work. We had to tell her it was Sunday to relieve her panic of missing a day. She retired from the financial world but found she just didn’t have enough to do. She got a job in her Sun Lakes community working for the HOA. She loved her co-workers and her job in Sun Lakes. She loved being busy and took great pride in her work there. It gave her purpose and something to keep her active and her mind working. My mom was one tough lady! Bad ass, actually! She went through breast cancer not one but twice. In the last year she did her best to overcome lung cancer that then moved into bone cancer. I don’t think anyone can challenge how tough she was. She fought cancer with grace and determination…always trying to protect us from the truth. I would call her and have to drag information out how she was really feeling. My sister and I would have share conversations…bits and pieces she talked about to understand the whole story. Otherwise she would just have rather talk about her day at work, someone she talked with that day, something new she and Bob had bought to decorate their house. Unfortunately, her courageous battle with cancer ended on January 14th. Her little body just couldn’t take it anymore. My mom had an amazing life. She was blessed to live her life with two men she loved very much. Through these men, she had 4 daughters with wonderful husbands and 9 grandchildren! She also has remarkable siblings, nieces, nephews and friends…too many to count. Again thank you for honoring my mom with your hearts today. We are all better because of her! In the end, there was nothing more that she wanted than to go home. I think it is very fitting that Bob has invited us all to their home to celebrate Susie.

Susan Jeanette Briggs-Spitler

April 8, 1947 - January 14, 2016