Her obituary from the August 16, 2002, Amarillo Globe-News (Texas):
Mary Suzanne Blair, 60, died Wednesday, August 14, 2002, in Amarillo.
Services will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Hill Chapel at West Texas A&M University. Burial will be in Benton, Arkansas. Arrangements are by Holley Funeral Home Inc.
Mary Suzanne Blair was welcomed into this world on July 21, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, Ernie and Edith, nurtured her into a loving, caring, giving person. She stayed close to home finishing high school and earning B.S. and M.A. degrees in physical education from Memphis State University. Throughout those years she participated in basketball, volleyball and her first love, softball. She coached youth teams at her church and with the Parks and Recreation Department of Memphis, Tennessee. Suzanne's softball team competed in many women's national softball championships.
In 1969, the desire for furthering her education, as well as looking for a new teaching position, caused her to venture west. The summer of 1969 found her in Greeley, Colorado, at the University of Northern Colorado to begin work on a doctorate of education degree, which was completed in 1973. She began a legacy of enthusiastic teaching that continued for 32 years until her retirement in January 2001. She loved teaching her classes, be it an activity or graduate level course. Nothing was more important than her students. The cornerstone of her philosophy was "Always put the student first," a principle she practiced and tried to instill in the future teachers she sent out into the schools. Her greatest reward was having a student tell her that something they had learned in her class had made a difference in their success as a teacher.
She will also be remembered as an outstanding coach in volleyball and golf. She served as president of TAIAW, received the Faculty Excellence Award, was recognized as the Outstanding Thesis Adviser and was selected a President's Teaching Fellow.
Once she came west, she never left. She loved Palo Duro Canyon as well as taking the 4-Runner on the mountain back roads and passes of New Mexico and Colorado for their awe-inspiring vistas and beauty.
Survivors include her father and stepmother, Ernie and Evelyn Blair of Hernando, Mississippi; a sister and her husband, Patty and Jack Simonton of Germantown, Pennsylvania; a brother and his wife, Danny and Vicki Blair of Tijeras, New Mexico; an aunt, Barbara Ann Suellentrop of Midwest City, Oklahoma; lifemate and friend Gayle Jones of Canyon; longtime friend and fellow WT professor, Allene Stovall of Panhandle.
The family suggests memorials be to the Allene Stovall Scholarship at WT.
Mary Suzanne Blair, 60, died Wednesday, August 14, 2002, in Amarillo.
Services will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Hill Chapel at West Texas A&M University. Burial will be in Benton, Arkansas. Arrangements are by Holley Funeral Home Inc.
Mary Suzanne Blair was welcomed into this world on July 21, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, Ernie and Edith, nurtured her into a loving, caring, giving person. She stayed close to home finishing high school and earning B.S. and M.A. degrees in physical education from Memphis State University. Throughout those years she participated in basketball, volleyball and her first love, softball. She coached youth teams at her church and with the Parks and Recreation Department of Memphis, Tennessee. Suzanne's softball team competed in many women's national softball championships.
In 1969, the desire for furthering her education, as well as looking for a new teaching position, caused her to venture west. The summer of 1969 found her in Greeley, Colorado, at the University of Northern Colorado to begin work on a doctorate of education degree, which was completed in 1973. She began a legacy of enthusiastic teaching that continued for 32 years until her retirement in January 2001. She loved teaching her classes, be it an activity or graduate level course. Nothing was more important than her students. The cornerstone of her philosophy was "Always put the student first," a principle she practiced and tried to instill in the future teachers she sent out into the schools. Her greatest reward was having a student tell her that something they had learned in her class had made a difference in their success as a teacher.
She will also be remembered as an outstanding coach in volleyball and golf. She served as president of TAIAW, received the Faculty Excellence Award, was recognized as the Outstanding Thesis Adviser and was selected a President's Teaching Fellow.
Once she came west, she never left. She loved Palo Duro Canyon as well as taking the 4-Runner on the mountain back roads and passes of New Mexico and Colorado for their awe-inspiring vistas and beauty.
Survivors include her father and stepmother, Ernie and Evelyn Blair of Hernando, Mississippi; a sister and her husband, Patty and Jack Simonton of Germantown, Pennsylvania; a brother and his wife, Danny and Vicki Blair of Tijeras, New Mexico; an aunt, Barbara Ann Suellentrop of Midwest City, Oklahoma; lifemate and friend Gayle Jones of Canyon; longtime friend and fellow WT professor, Allene Stovall of Panhandle.
The family suggests memorials be to the Allene Stovall Scholarship at WT.
Her obituary from the August 16, 2002, Amarillo Globe-News (Texas):
Mary Suzanne Blair, 60, died Wednesday, August 14, 2002, in Amarillo.
Services will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Hill Chapel at West Texas A&M University. Burial will be in Benton, Arkansas. Arrangements are by Holley Funeral Home Inc.
Mary Suzanne Blair was welcomed into this world on July 21, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, Ernie and Edith, nurtured her into a loving, caring, giving person. She stayed close to home finishing high school and earning B.S. and M.A. degrees in physical education from Memphis State University. Throughout those years she participated in basketball, volleyball and her first love, softball. She coached youth teams at her church and with the Parks and Recreation Department of Memphis, Tennessee. Suzanne's softball team competed in many women's national softball championships.
In 1969, the desire for furthering her education, as well as looking for a new teaching position, caused her to venture west. The summer of 1969 found her in Greeley, Colorado, at the University of Northern Colorado to begin work on a doctorate of education degree, which was completed in 1973. She began a legacy of enthusiastic teaching that continued for 32 years until her retirement in January 2001. She loved teaching her classes, be it an activity or graduate level course. Nothing was more important than her students. The cornerstone of her philosophy was "Always put the student first," a principle she practiced and tried to instill in the future teachers she sent out into the schools. Her greatest reward was having a student tell her that something they had learned in her class had made a difference in their success as a teacher.
She will also be remembered as an outstanding coach in volleyball and golf. She served as president of TAIAW, received the Faculty Excellence Award, was recognized as the Outstanding Thesis Adviser and was selected a President's Teaching Fellow.
Once she came west, she never left. She loved Palo Duro Canyon as well as taking the 4-Runner on the mountain back roads and passes of New Mexico and Colorado for their awe-inspiring vistas and beauty.
Survivors include her father and stepmother, Ernie and Evelyn Blair of Hernando, Mississippi; a sister and her husband, Patty and Jack Simonton of Germantown, Pennsylvania; a brother and his wife, Danny and Vicki Blair of Tijeras, New Mexico; an aunt, Barbara Ann Suellentrop of Midwest City, Oklahoma; lifemate and friend Gayle Jones of Canyon; longtime friend and fellow WT professor, Allene Stovall of Panhandle.
The family suggests memorials be to the Allene Stovall Scholarship at WT.
Mary Suzanne Blair, 60, died Wednesday, August 14, 2002, in Amarillo.
Services will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Hill Chapel at West Texas A&M University. Burial will be in Benton, Arkansas. Arrangements are by Holley Funeral Home Inc.
Mary Suzanne Blair was welcomed into this world on July 21, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, Ernie and Edith, nurtured her into a loving, caring, giving person. She stayed close to home finishing high school and earning B.S. and M.A. degrees in physical education from Memphis State University. Throughout those years she participated in basketball, volleyball and her first love, softball. She coached youth teams at her church and with the Parks and Recreation Department of Memphis, Tennessee. Suzanne's softball team competed in many women's national softball championships.
In 1969, the desire for furthering her education, as well as looking for a new teaching position, caused her to venture west. The summer of 1969 found her in Greeley, Colorado, at the University of Northern Colorado to begin work on a doctorate of education degree, which was completed in 1973. She began a legacy of enthusiastic teaching that continued for 32 years until her retirement in January 2001. She loved teaching her classes, be it an activity or graduate level course. Nothing was more important than her students. The cornerstone of her philosophy was "Always put the student first," a principle she practiced and tried to instill in the future teachers she sent out into the schools. Her greatest reward was having a student tell her that something they had learned in her class had made a difference in their success as a teacher.
She will also be remembered as an outstanding coach in volleyball and golf. She served as president of TAIAW, received the Faculty Excellence Award, was recognized as the Outstanding Thesis Adviser and was selected a President's Teaching Fellow.
Once she came west, she never left. She loved Palo Duro Canyon as well as taking the 4-Runner on the mountain back roads and passes of New Mexico and Colorado for their awe-inspiring vistas and beauty.
Survivors include her father and stepmother, Ernie and Evelyn Blair of Hernando, Mississippi; a sister and her husband, Patty and Jack Simonton of Germantown, Pennsylvania; a brother and his wife, Danny and Vicki Blair of Tijeras, New Mexico; an aunt, Barbara Ann Suellentrop of Midwest City, Oklahoma; lifemate and friend Gayle Jones of Canyon; longtime friend and fellow WT professor, Allene Stovall of Panhandle.
The family suggests memorials be to the Allene Stovall Scholarship at WT.
