Susan Mandel

Sue was born on November 11, 1952 to Jimmie Powell and Peggy Powell (Yeager). After her parents divorce in 1954, she moved with her mother to Liberal, Kansas. She grew up with Bill and Peggy Wood and her siblings Kathy and John. She did not know of Jimmie Powell and his family.

After a childhood as a successful student, clarinet player, pianist, and rebellious daughter she moved to Colorado to work and then go to college. She went to Western Colorado University and then graduated from the University of Phoenix with a BA degree.

She worked for many years for the Baby Bells and then AT&T rising to the rank of Project Manager while taking various positions in the US.

She married David Bateman. They lived in Kansas City.

After her divorce she lived with Keith Andrisevic and in 1989 had her son, Mitchell. From then on, Mitch was the center of her life. They mainly lived in Highlands Ranch, Colorado where Mitch was raised. She was always creative. In this phase she was doing scrapbooking.

In 1991 she received a call from her brother Jim and learned of her father’s side of the family – brothers Jim and Richard, and sisters Cindy and Kathy. They had a happy reunion in November of that year in Enid, Oklahoma.

In 2007 she met Jim Mandel. They soon lived together and were married in 2010. They continued to live in Highlands Ranch. Sue had retired from AT&T and then became a real estate broker.

In 2014 they moved to Green Valley, Arizona where they built a house and formed many new friendships. They travelled a lot both in their RV and on cruises. They bought an RV lot in Wyoming and parked their RV there permanently. From then on they spent summers in Wyoming. Sue developed a new passion for creating art work in fused glass. She grew in her experience and talents and bought a kiln to put in her garage along with a full studio.

In 2019 Sue was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. After treatment with radiation and new targeted therapies in the form of daily pills, the cancer became controlled. She lived with the cancer until it finally compromised her body and she died during a bronchoscopy procedure at the hospital on May 29, 2026.