Susanne Minter Jerome, lately of Mesa, Arizona, died April 20, 2023 at an assisted living home aft er a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 80. Born in Denver in 1942 to Max and Mary Kahlow, nee Laughead, she lived in Portland, Oregon after the remarriage of her mother Mary Frances to William Stites in 1948, who later adopted Susanne. From Portland, there was a stop in Denver, 1952-54, while William obtained a doctorate in Speech and Drama. In 1954 they moved to Tempe, Arizona where William began a long tenure as professor at then Arizona State College.
Susanne lived in Arizona all her life except for a year in 2022 with her brother in Lake Oswego, Oregon. She attended Tempe Union High and Arizona State University. In 1977 she married Lawrence Jerome of Tempe and resided in Phoenix for many years before moving to Globe after Lawrence’s death in 2007.
Susanne was a longtime member of the Arizona Mountaineering Club, a photographer and staff writer for the Arizona Silver Belt in Globe, and a popular photographer for the San Carlos Apache tribe, serving as a teacher and librarian at San Carlos High School.
She was witty and out going, well known to be friendly and kind, always there with a helping hand in her many years in Globe.
She is survived by her brother, Bill Stites of Oregon; sister, Melinda Stites-Lounsbury of Tempe; and nieces, Sarah Stites of Grand Junction, Colorado, Michelle Guisleman of Scottsdale, Arizona, Ashley Lounsbury of the San Francisco Bay area, Whitney Billingsley of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Meghan Lounsbury of Phoenix, Arizona.
A memorial will be held May 20 at the High Desert Middle School in Globe, Arizona. Please go to www.legacy.com for more service information.
