Sue Carol Robinson died on June 4, 2019 at home under the care of her beloved husband, Rex Westen. She is survived by Rex; daughters Amelia Stone and Carla Roitz; grandchildren Olivia Stone, Diego Stone, and Elliot Chadwick; and her brother, Paul Gene Robinson. She follows her father Gene Paul Robinson and her mother Helen Mendenhall Robinson. A true Baby Boomer, she was born in Danville, Illinois on December 28th, 1944 while her father was training pilots for duty overseas in World War II. She grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she graduated from Washington High School. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico before travelling to San Francisco to earn an MFA from the University of California, San Francisco where she met Charles Roitz. With Charlie, she had two daughters and moved to Boulder, Colorado. After their marriage of ten years ended, they both continued to parent their children, giving them the enormous kindness of rarely saying anything unkind about the other and willingly spending time together at family events with their children and grandchildren. Sue married Rex Westen in 1980, with whom she shared 39 happy years. She was head over heels in love with him until the end, and his care for her during the last years of her life was inspirational.
Sue had suffered for several years from dementia, which had left her sweet, generous and grateful for the care of her family and friends, and decidedly less salty than she had been previously. Sue was an accomplished photographer, painter, filmmaker, poet, and pianist. She had worked as a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder teaching filmmaking, and as a nurse at Avista and Boulder Community Hospitals and in private practice. She understood the challenges and the rewards of earning a living caring for others, balanced with her life as an artist and a creative soul. She fed her fascination with Japanese culture and Buddhist meditation by participating in communities at Boulder Aikikai and the Boulder Zen Center. In her later years she focused on writing poetry and fiction with the support of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Her reawakened love affair with the piano meant hours of practice and many outstanding performances both for her family and friends and her much valued performance group. Her and Rex’s shared passion for music was a great joy to them both. Sue Robinson was vibrant, intelligent, funny and great, great fun; she will be missed so very much.
A memorial will be held at 4 pm on Sunday, June 30 at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. All who knew Sue are welcome to attend.
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