Susan Riker

With dreadful grief we announce the passing on Aug. 6 of our Susie, beloved daughter, sister, wife, aunt and shining light to all who knew her. She was born Oct. 29, 1956 in a post-WW-II relocation camp in Nuremberg Germany, to a Czech refugee. Christened 'Zdenka Fajtova' and given up for adoption, she was embraced by a U.S. Army career Sergeant and his Czech-German wife, who renamed her Susan Zdenka Brownewell. She was diagnosed at an early age with a rare hereditary condition, which rendered her allergic to the sun's rays. Contact was early lost with her biological relatives, and despite intense clinical research, her life was a sojourn in the shadows. Sue was a conscientious contract professional in the NASA family, first at Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt MD, and later at the TDRSS White Sands Ground Station near Las Cruces NM. She moved to Seattle WA in 1998 with her husband, and enjoyed the comfort of the abundant regional cloud cover for the remaining years of her life, working first at Drugstore.com, then later at Pearson Vue. Sue is survived by her devoted husband Del; her loving mother Elfriede; sisters Debbie and Jo Ann; brother-in-law Karl; sisters-in-law Olivia, Victoria, Nancy and Bonnie; legions of loving nieces and nephews; and a vast host of dear friends whom she's never forgotten.