Carolyn Sue Riddlebarger

Carolyn Sue Riddlebarger, 91, long-term resident of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, passed away on June 5, 2023 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Sue was born on November 19, 1931 to Lester and Mildred Dutton in Ponca City, Oklahoma. She attended Ponca City public schools and, after graduating from Ponca City High School in 1949, went on to study Elementary Education at the University of Oklahoma. She was an active member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority while attending OU.
After graduating from OU, Sue began her teaching career in Norman, Oklahoma, moving on to Oklahoma City and eventually Bartlesville. She had a special gift for teaching and "her kids" never forgot her. In 1971 she went back to school, earning a master's degree in guidance counseling with a focus on elementary school testing. She ended her twenty-year teaching career when she met and married Dr. John Riddlebarger. They were married on July 1, 1972 and spent the next fifty years raising three children, Stephen, Suzie, and John, and traveling the world together. A favorite destination being Petra.
Sue was very active in her community and she was particularly committed to helping children. One organization that was very dear to her was the Oklahoma Society to Prevent Blindness, a group focused on preventing childhood blindness. She became a board member and devoted many hours to this cause. Her many other interests included Service League, where she was president for two terms, the YWCA, where she also served as president, Music Club, and The Oklahoma Symphony, where she was a board member. She and her family were also members of the First United Methodist Church. Sue will be remembered for many things, but especially her kindness, wisdom, and subtle, yet sly, sense of humor.
She is preceded in death by her parents and sister, Jean Threlkeld. She is survived by her husband, John, her three children, Stephen, Suzie, and John, and many nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.