Sue Moyer

Sue Lazo Moyer

Sue L Moyer died on Monday August 4, 2014 after a brief illness. She was 89.

Susan Belle Lazo was born on February 18, 1925 to Hector Lazo and Susan Bullock Lazo, in Washington DC. After growing up chiefly in Washington, she left for Radcliffe College in 1942 where she met the love of her life, Reed Moyer, then a junior at Harvard. They were married in 1944 despite her father's concerns that they were too young to know what they were doing. 69 happy years together proved him wrong.

After the war and a year in Madison WI, Sue and Reed settled in Indiana where their three daughters were born. In 1957 Sue added a teaching certificate to her BS degree and the family moved to Berkeley CA where Reed got his doctorate and Sue taught science at Richmond Junior High.

They then moved to East Lansing MI where Reed taught at Michigan State University. Sue put off returning to teaching until her youngest was out of junior high (Thanks again, Mom!), earning a Masters degree in Biology from MSU while she waited. She then taught junior high science and pioneered team teaching with two colleagues, co-authoring a book on the subject that was published by Charles Merrill in 1969. She also earned a Masters in Library Science in her spare time from the University of Michigan, and in 1974 became a Bio-Science Librarian at MSU.

In 1979, Sue and Reed returned to the Bay Area and moved to Palo Alto, where she worked as a medical writer for Syntex Labs, now part of Roche, until her retirement in 1988.

Sue's voracious interests included reading, gardening, quilting and sharing her life's good fortune with others. She became a Master Gardener, taught ESL and volunteered at Avenidas and St. Anthony's of Padua. She and a small group of quilters each made one crib sized quilt a week for several years which they donated to families in need. She supported the Foster Parents Plan for over 30 years.

Sue recalled enjoying the liberating effects of WWII on women in the US, which opened all sorts of educational and work opportunities not available to women before, and she always encouraged her daughters to live up to their full potential. We thank her for that.

Sue was predeceased by her husband Reed (2014) and her middle daughter Jennifer (1991). She will be sorely missed by her remaining daughters, Patricia (Lexington MA) and Ellen (Oakland CA), seven grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.