Name: Celebration of Life for Susan Keeny Nelson
Start: 2023-09-30T18:00:00.000Z
End: 2023-09-30T21:00:00.000Z
Location: Murphy Funeral Homes - Arlington

Nelson

Susan Keeny Nelson

Susan Keeny Nelson (nee Eberly) was born November 13, 1940, to Mary Keeny Eberly and Norman McKinley Eberly in Carlisle, PA, where her mother was a homemaker and her father was a journalist. Susan died August 5, 2023, attended by family and friends, and is survived by her husband of 51 years, Warren Louis Nelson, of Arlington, VA. She is also survived by her brother Joseph Eberly (Shirley), sister Mary Evans, nephew Edward Evans, nieces Rebecca Manning (Trisha Goetz), Virginia Harvey (Michael), Lynn Eberly (Andy Scherrer), and many other loving family members, friends, and neighbors.

Susan graduated from State College High School in Pennsylvania in 1958 and then from Penn State in 1962 with a degree in Liberal Arts, having been Assistant Professional and Training Director of the Penn State Collegian newspaper. After several years working for the state of Pennsylvania, the US Census Bureau, and the American Friends Services Committee (the charitable arm of the Quaker community), Susan was hired by Doubleday in Washington, DC, to arrange local interviews and appearances with nationally touring authors and to filter unsolicited manuscripts before sending the best on to the New York office. She met Warren through a mutual acquaintance in 1969; they married in 1972 in the Quaker Meeting House of Harrisburg, PA, the wedding having been postponed for a week because of flooding in the Susquehanna River from Hurricane Agnes.

Susan was recruited away from Doubleday to work for the burgeoning newsletter industry in 1982, specifically as a DC correspondent for a newsletter that was reporting on the Iranian American Claims Tribunal. Her later career included writing for newsletters on the US energy industry. After retirement, Susan was active in her neighborhood and in volunteering, including as docent for the National Building Museum, through several roles with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club including service on its Executive Council, and with the Washington Friends Meeting.

All through the years, she devoted considerable time to her floral and vegetable garden.

Donations to either the American Friends Service Committee or the American Rescue Committee preferred in lieu of flowers. Plant some brown-eyed Susans in her memory. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for Saturday, September 30, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Murphy Funeral Home in Arlington, VA.

www.murphyfuneralhomes.com

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post from Aug. 18 to Aug. 20, 2023.

Memories and Condolences
for Susan Nelson

3 Entries

Donna MacPherson

August 23, 2023

I met Susan in 1963 when we both worked at the Census Bureau. We've been close friends ever since. I was her Maid Of Honor when she and Warren married. The wedding had to be postponed one week because of floods from hurricane Agnes. When I arrived at Susan's home the day before the wedding, she was doing laundry for flood victims. I was so impressed that she would be helping others in need the day before her wedding. She was just that kind of person. I will miss our long conversations on the phone, getting together meals, plays, and movies. Most of all I will miss her friendship and counsel. Susan. Thank you for being my friend

Martha Nelson

August 20, 2023

Susan was fun to be around because she was adventurous and boisterous. Aaron and I will never forget the time my parents invited Susan and Warren to Shepherdstown, WV for a Civil War reenactment tour that followed the Battle of Shepherdstown, including General Lee's fording of the Potomac River. Aaron and I were in our 30s, had run dozens of ultramarathons between us, and were still doubtful whether our legs could hold against the Potomac's rushing rapids. But then we saw Susan, in her 70s, bravely forge ahead, the waters rising to her chest and the rapids pulling her downstream. We all left the Potomac waters chilled (it was October) and exhausted, but Susan powered up the hills to finish the Battle of Shepherdstown and seemed unfazed. Aaron and I still laugh about her dogged toughness and spirit.

Marilyn Falik

August 19, 2023

Susan was a very caring and emotionally giving soul. I shall remember her fondly and always with a smile.

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