Susan L. Taylor

Susan Lynne Taylor of Chapman, Kansas, died on May 6, 2025. She had been a resident at Marigold Rehabilitation and Health Care Center and under hospice care at Compassus, both in Galesburg, Illinois. The family wishes to express their sincere gratitude to all the staff at Marigold and Compassus who helped Susan and her family in their devastating battle and loss with dementia.

Susan was born in Wichita, Kansas on September 6,1946. She and her parents, Hugh Charles Kilpatrick and Ruby Blackwell Kilpatrick, along with older sister, Martha Ann “Marty” Kilpatrick, lived in Greensburg Kansas for five years.

Susan started grade school in Enterprise, Kansas but then moved to Plainfield, Illinois after third grade with her family due to her father’s promotion to the superintendent job at the Michigan Wisconsin Pipeline Company. Susan graduated from Plainfield High School in 1964. She then attended Blackburn College for two years where she met her first husband, Richard B. Fink. Susan received her BA from Illinois State University in 1968. In 1969, Susan began her teaching career as an English teacher at Salisbury High School in Salisbury, Missouri. While there, she made many lifelong friends and had a huge impact on many of her students. In 1993, Susan earned a Master’s in Education from the University of Missouri. After 34 years of teaching English at Salisbury High School, Susan retired in 2006.

Susan and her first husband later divorced but had one daughter, Tracy (Greg) Smith, of Galesburg, Illinois. Susan has two granddaughters, Kaitlyn Grace Smith of Chicago, IL, and Hannah Rebecca Smith, of Columbia, Missouri. Susan is also survived by sister-in-law Joan Taylor, nieces Tanda Garner, LesLee and Stacia Taylor, and nephew, Rodney (Ann) Garner.

At the urging of lifelong friends, Susan attended her Enterprise Grade School class reunion in September 2006. There she became reacquainted with her former classmate and family friend, Bruce Leon Taylor. This reunion led to their union in marriage on March 26, 2007, at the Enterprise United Methodist Church.

Susan was the National Vice President of the National Junior Classical League from 1963-1964 and attended the NJCL Convention August 9-13, 1964.

Susan was a member of the Kansas State Chapter (KSC) PEO, Ladies Literary League of Abilene, Kansas, and served on the board at the Enterprise Public Library. She and her husband Bruce were supporters of the Dickinson County Community Foundation and active in their church, Enterprise Community Church.

Susan loved musicals, books, and music. She also loved to fish and spent many happy times fishing in Minnesota as a child, boating on the Lake of the Ozarks as an adult, and later with her husband, fishing in Minnesota. Susan was always ready to go on travel adventures with her husband to visit family and friends. Susan always made others feel welcome, and her kindness, smile and sparkling robin’s egg blue eyes will always be remembered with love.

Susan was preceded in death by her beloved husband Bruce Taylor on March 15, 2025, her sister Martha Ann, and her parents.

Memorial service will be held at Enterprise Community Church on June 20 with visitation at 10:00AM and memorial service to begin at 11:00. Interment will be at the Lutheran Cemetery in Enterprise. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent directly to the Alzheimer’s Association, Attention: Donor Services, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, 17th Floor, Chicago IL 60601 or to the Enterprise Community Church, P.O. Box 308, Enterprise, KS 67441. Arrangements have been entrusted to Watson Thomas Funeral Home and Crematory, Galesburg, Illinois. Online expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.watsonthomas.com.