Susan Barton

We are sad to share the news that Sue Barton passed away at her home on February 1, 2025, in comfort and at peace. Her rapid decline was caused by dementia, and all her caregivers were shocked at how quickly she lost her faculties. 

Born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 2, 1942, the only child of the late Harold and Pauline Wallace Arnold, Sue was always happiest when she was busy. From an early age she liked to “make stuff.” She loved helping her dad in his wood shop, designed countless posters for Shaw High School events, and in 1960 started creating her own handmade Christmas cards, a tradition that continued every December for the rest of her life. 

Sue provided more than she realized to more people than she realized – in large part because at the root of her value system was the desire to help others and be useful. Completing a Bachelors’ Degree at Kent State and a Masters’ Degree at Ohio University in the mid-sixties, she taught first grade at Chambers Elementary, the same school that she attended, and took over the classroom of one of her favorite teachers. Upon becoming a Mom, she started what the kids today refer to as a “side hustle” making and selling stone pins, salt-dough figures, and other crafts at small events. Catching one of the early waves as the movement of Arts and Crafts shows grew in the 1980’s, she refined her artistic vision to focus on calligraphy and design using early-American elements such as quilting, buttons, and hand stitching. Sue traveled with her husband Ken all over the country on the “circuit” making many sales and many, many more friends. 

She never stopped teaching: she encouraged children and adults alike to expand their creative lives at Frost Valley YMCA, Camp Fitch YMCA, and the Orange Arts Center. She was proud of her make-do attitude and loved the challenge to “make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.” Hers was a big impact from a small person through the application of relentless effort and love. 

Important elements of her personality shown through her art: symmetry, wisdom, and personalization. Not only in her art, she strove to be symmetric, growing her business but balancing it with volunteering and giving away as much as she could. Not only in her art, she thought deeply about the human condition and shared her pearls of wisdom with those she loved. Not only in her art, personalization was paramount in her life. She talked easily with everyone (even in the single-rider-line at Disney World), learned people’s names, asked them questions, and most importantly, she listened and made people feel loved. 

Sue is survived by Ken, her Senior High prom date and husband of 58 years, son Brad (and his wife Lulu), daughter Kelly (and her husband Matt) and grandchildren Scott, Susannah, Maddy, and Charlie. But this is just the beginning of a long list of people who felt nurtured by her, called her “Grandma,” and who remember an important point in each of our lives where she helped us see the good, calm our fears, or weather a storm. 

We have decided to celebrate Sue’s life this summer when our flower farm is in bloom. In the meantime, order yourself a chocolate martini and raise a toast to Sue: “Families are like quilts - lives pieced together, stitched with smiles and tears, colored with memories, and bound by love.” 

Arrangements entrusted to the Burton Funeral Home, 525 Main Street, Girard, PA.

Send condolences at www.BurtonQuinnScott.com. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park (LEAF), 1501 West 6th Street, Erie, PA 16505. https://leaferie.org/products/donate-to-leaf-erie