On Monday, November 28, 2022, Susan Phillips Everett, loving wife and mother of three, passed away at the age of 57. She was born on July 23, 1965 in Chanute, Kansas, to Larry Phillips and Sandra Allen Phillips. She was a member of the Chanute High School class of 1983 and attended Baker University, where she became an active member of the Phi Mu sorority, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1987 and a master’s degree in management in 1994. While at Baker, Susan met her future husband, Wayne Everett, and they were married in Chanute on December 15, 1990. Over the following ten years, Susan and Wayne welcomed three children, Mason, Benjamin, and Grace, into their family.

Susan started her faith journey at a young age. The United Methodist Church was her denomination of choice, as she was drawn to John Wesley’s theological teachings. She and Wayne were married in the United Methodist Church, and Susan remained active her entire life, raising the kids in the church and serving as Finance Chair at two of the churches they attended. One of her greatest contributions to her husband was shepherding him into a life of faith.

Susan’s work career began as a Chapter Advisor for her college sorority, Phi Mu, traveling the country to provide guidance to individual chapters. Her next two roles were in accounting at DST Systems, and then at Sprint, both in Kansas City. Shortly before the birth of their third child, Grace, Susan and Wayne decided it would be best that she pause her career to focus primarily on raising the three young kids. Three years later, she creatively found a way to work and be near the kids when she began working at Pembroke Hill School, a private school in Kansas City. At Pembroke Hill, she first worked in accounting before becoming the Director of Summer Programs where she discovered a passion for working with students and parents.

In 2010, a job change for Wayne took the family to Monroe, Louisiana. Susan again followed the kids and her passion for working with students when she became the Director of Enrollment at Cedar Creek School in Ruston, Louisiana. While at Cedar Creek, Susan sponsored the school’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter, one of the most rewarding roles of her career. The FBLA chapter thrived under her leadership, growing to be one of the largest extracurricular groups at the school, and one of the most accomplished chapters in the state.

Despite the culture shock of moving from her home state, Susan thrived during the family’s nine years in Louisiana. She was instrumental in integrating the family into Louisiana culture by befriending the neighbors, attending the city’s Mardi Gras parade, taking the family on trips to New Orleans and other Louisiana cities, and getting involved in the community in many other ways.

In 2019, with the nest nearly empty, Susan and Wayne moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Tulsa, Susan worked as the Bursar at the University of Tulsa before becoming an Accounting Manager at CAP Tulsa, a multi-campus early childhood education provider.

Susan centered her life around the needs of her family, her first priority. Her daily rituals changed as the needs of the family changed. When the kids reached their teenage years, Susan made sure the family started each week with Monday morning family prayer time before leaving for school. As the kids grew older and started to leave home, Susan always sent a Monday morning text with something encouraging or funny to start their week.

Susan expressed her love for her family on a daily basis, evidenced in part by nicknames that she used frequently and enthusiastically for her husband (Bean) and each of her children (Mas, Mr. B, and Gus/Gussie/Gusserina). During holidays, the family could always count on Susan’s traditions as constants. These included eating banana splits for dinner on the summer solstice (quickly followed by ordering pizza), allowing each member of the family to open one gift on Christmas Eve, getting up early on Halloween to cook a spooky breakfast complete with kitchen and dining room decorations, ordering food instead of cooking on election days, and curating individualized gift baskets for each member of the family on Easter.

Susan’s pets were also an integral part of her family. Furball the cat and dogs Jesse, Seeger, Mimi, Maple, and Baylor were all deeply loved and thoroughly spoiled by Susan.

While a primary focus of Susan's service to her community was centered around church, Susan continued supporting Phi Mu, primarily with membership recruiting, and she was an active member of the women’s organization, PEO. Of course, she spent untold hours in support of the activities in which the kids were involved. Her scrapbooks provide us all with beautiful memories of the family’s years together.

Susan was a lifelong KU basketball fan, a passion she passed on to her sons. When all three of her children decided to attend Baylor University, she became an avid Baylor fan as well. She also raised her two boys to root against both Missouri and Duke, evidenced by the fact that she named her Roomba vacuum cleaner Duke, because it sucks.

Susan's happy place was on the warm sand by the ocean, resting and reading. The family made frequent visits to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Destin, Florida. While at the beach Susan's headphones would be playing music ranging from Michael Jackson and Maroon 5 to Journey and Van Halen. Driven by her love of music, she attended numerous concerts and made sure her children knew about all the best songs of the 80s and 90s on their daily drives to and from school. Her daughter inherited Susan's love for live music and the performing arts, a topic they often discussed. It was not difficult for Grace to convince her mom that concert tickets were worth the money.

While our hearts ache at the loss of our wonderful wife and mother, we are grateful Susan was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, and following His direction, she made our family her number one priority. We are immeasurably blessed by that.

Susan was predeceased by her father Larry Phillips, and she is survived by her mother Sandra Phillips, her brother Todd Phillips and sister-in-law Teresa Phillips, her husband Wayne Everett, their son Mason Everett and daughter-in-law Amber Everett, their son Benjamin Everett and daughter-in-law Elissa Freberg-Everett, and their daughter Grace Everett. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2022, at 10 a.m. at Asbury Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate to Building All Children.

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