Susan Jane Austin Nelson

Nelson, Susan Jane Austin Susan Jane Austin Nelson died peacefully at home on August 6, 2019. Her family and caregivers for many years have honored Susan's wish to remain in the house she loved and cared for, in which she welcomed many, many people over the course of her life. It has been a capacious space, where parties could be thrown, as well as sanctuary provided. Where students and colleagues - Susan and her husband Bill were both professors at WSU in the English Department for many years - reliably gathered, for cocktails and music and literary conversation, hosting celebrity as well as endorsing political champions of progressive and humanitarian causes. At Christmas time, for many years, an enormous lighted peace symbol was the holiday message from the Nelsons. Susan was always the heart of this house. Her five children grew up here, and returned often to the warmth and order that prevailed. Susan -- Mom, Grandma Susan -- understood intimately the invisible yet essential labor that proceeds from love and empathy, that anticipates and then meets individual need; if you visited, you would find your favorite cake or beverage awaiting you. Your room would be clean, your sheets turned down. In the basement, The Play Room, complete with a Joan Miro-inspired mural, hand-painted by Susan. She didn't just send small children there; she joined them, sitting on a little chair at eye level, engaged entirely in their world. Though Susan enjoyed travel - to Colorado, to Montana, to the homes of her children in New Mexico, California, Utah, and abroad, when she could - the majority of her life was here in Wichita. She grew up in Riverside, attended North High, and Wichita State University, from which she received her BA, as well as two masters degrees (in Creative Writing, and Spanish) in later life. She was deeply invested in the cultural life of the city, always attending musical performances, art events, and lectures, a faithful patron of the library and community theater. She loved film, and was member of many different book discussion groups over the years. She wanted very much to share and inspire others to step out of the house and into the world. And Wichita provided her with rich resources. She loved to teach, and she loved to learn; she loved literature, and art, and animals, and children, and all of the hopeful and optimistic prospects in this life - scientific breakthrough, Democratic justice, the sheer beauty of the natural world, and the promise of progress -- and family. Most of all, she loved family.