This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: WHL44 Surnames: LOUIS, RALSTON, SHEA, DAANE, RIIHIMAKI, SILVA, CORLEY Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.michigan.counties.kalamazoo/25810/mb.ashx Message Board Post: LOUIS, Susan R. Age 78 Lost her battle with Alzheimer's after eight-years on January 28, 2010. Knowing Sue, it is likely she will demand a rematch in the after-life. Sue was born Susan Janet Ralston in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on July 31, 1931. Her father spotted her drive and athletic talent at an early age and did what any father would do, put a sporting good in her hand, and since Ralph was a tennis player, Sue got a racquet. From then on, she made the old State High School tennis courts her second home, developing a game that eventually earned her the Michigan Women's Tennis Championship and a national ranking (and up until she had to quit playing tennis a few years ago, she still had the most beautiful strokes on the court). Sue began her college years at her parent's alma mater, Kalamazoo College. There, she played on the Women's Tennis team, just like her mother had in the 1910's. By then, she had also developed a love for the theater and transferred to the University of Michigan to become an a! ctress and complete her degree. While the University of Michigan put an end to her career in competitive tennis (the institution felt that having a women's tennis program would "lead to ogling and debauchery" -- according to the athletic director), Sue did earn her degree and got the opportunity to perform along side James Earl Jones, a fellow student in Ann Arbor. It was shortly after graduation that Sue married Warren E. "Stub" Louis, a future dentist and friend of Sue's older brother from Kalamazoo. After serving out Stub's commitment to both the U.S. Army and Air Force, they moved back to Kalamazoo to launch their family and their careers. Stub focused on dentistry while Sue focused on doing everything that housewives weren't yet approved to do, she started her own business (making and selling hand-painted buttons to gift and apparel stores across the country), performed in numerous productions at the Civic Theater in Kalamazoo (including Mame and Mary, Mary), mastered ! the game of golf (won Michigan Publinx Golf Championship by beating th e entire Michigan State University golf team -- as a grandmother), opened a gift store in Saugatuck, Michigan (East of the Sun ), started the first Bed and Breakfast in Southwestern Michigan (Wickwood Inn), and also managed to raise two kids (Pam and Steve). Later in life, Sue gave up her business and the theater, concentrating on golf, the store, and art (something else to try). In the summer months she divided her time between Clearbrook Country Club in Saugatuck (where she still holds the course record for women -- 72) and the store (where she rediscovered her love of crafts and sold them - without remorse - to the throngs of tourists that wandered Butler Street). In the winter months she plied the fairways at the Naples Beach Club and painted pictures of things she liked (which she would gladly sell to anyone who happened to like her artistic representation of the things she liked). Sue is survived by her husband of 56 years, Stub Louis; her daughter Pamela L. Shea (Nick! ) and their children Andrew Daane, Alex Daane, Kate Riihimaki (Steve), and Jordan Silva (Kevin) and her son Steven W. Louis (Anne) and their children Hunter, Cydney, and Callie Louis; her sister, Phyllis Corley, and brother, James Ralston, also survive her. We are planning a celebration of life this summer at Clearbrook Country Club in Saugatuck. Contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association in Sue's name. Published in Kalamazoo Gazette on February 7, 2010 (Posted by a VOLUNTEER-NO family connection) Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.