Sue-Ellen Tucker

She was the wife of Steven Tucker, and mother to Aaron Tucker, Laura Tucker, and Anna Crossland, and grandmother to Mikaela, 4, and Kate, 4 months.

She was born Sue-Ellen Vermeer in Phoenix, at Saint Joseph’s Hospital on February 18,1956, grew up in north Phoenix, and graduated from Washington High School in 1974. She graduated from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, in 1977, and started her career as an elementary school teacher in Gila Bend, Arizona, in 1978, moving to Littleton School the next year, where she taught for seven years.

She met her husband-to-be, Steven, at Southwest Church of Christ, and it was love at first sight, and they married in 1981. She earned her Masters in English at ASU in 1983. She paused from teaching when she became a mother and also babysat her nephews. She resumed her teaching career in the Washington School district in 1999, and then moved to the Deer Valley School District in 2001 where she taught or subbed through 2018. Children were always at the center of Sue-Ellen’s attention, and she put her whole devotion into her roles as teacher, mother, and grandmother.

Compassion and laughter always accompanied her. She knew how to make life a joy for everyone around her.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, January 27, 2025, at Northwest Church of Christ