Sue Brothers Obituary

Brothers
Sue Brothers
October 16, 2022

Sue Brothers, an avid reader, writer, and adventurer who lived and traveled all over the world with her husband of 70 years, Dwight Brothers, died in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the age of 93.
Sue was the eldest of three daughters and was raised in Caruthersville, Missouri. She attended the University of Missouri where she was a cheerleader and received a Rotary scholarship for international study. In England, she met her life partner Dwight, who won her heart on a ski trip in the Swiss Alps. The pair would return to England many times throughout their lives as tourists and to visit with beloved friends. Later in life, Sue became interested in genealogy and traced her family ancestry as far back as Robert Montgomery who emigrated in 1737 from Ballymore County, Armagh, Ireland, and died in 1776 in Paxtang, Pennsylvania, and to Samuel McCutchan, who was born in 1733 in Kirkudbright, Scotland and died July 1821 in Augusta, Virginia.
After Dwight obtained his Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton University, the couple moved first to New York City and then to Houston, Texas in 1956 where Dwight taught Economics at Rice University. Sue wrote book reviews for the Houston Chronicle.
Sue, having grown up in the segregated South, rejected racism and was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement. She once challenged her daughter's school principal after a school Christmas play in which all of the little angels were played by white children. Her children remember Sue's frequent consciousness-raising about the importance of respect and equality for all.
After a period in Washington, DC, the family of five moved to Mexico where they lived in Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Sue learned Spanish and took a deep interest in Mexican art and culture, and she would take the children on frequent outings to markets and artisan shops where she connected with the local artists and craftspeople and collected folk art and textiles.
In 1965, the family moved to Concord, Massachusetts and Sue earned a master's degree from the Simmons School of Library and Information Science in Boston. In addition to her studies, she was an avid horsewoman and enjoyed riding her quarter horse, Zanzibar, with her two Jack Russell terriers in the woods of Fairhaven Hill near Walden Pond.
In the 1970s and 1980s Sue and Dwight lived and traveled between Greenwich Village, New York, and Nairobi, Kenya. In Kenya, Sue assisted in projects at the Kenya National Library. Always adventurous, she volunteered with wildlife research projects, including the field study of hyenas, in far-flung regions of the country. Later, in the 1990s, Sue and Dwight lived in Gaborone, Botswana. Sue once took her eldest grandchild on safari in the Botswana Game Reserve and on a makoro ride in the Okavango Delta. The two rode horses in the bush where they were briefly chased by a startled elephant.
Sue and Dwight retired to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and resided in Westcliffe, Colorado as well, where she picked up fly fishing and continued to care for and ride horses. Sue served on the board of the Penrose Public Library. She continued her interest in literature and cultural events and was active in organizations and with her circle of friends.
Sue had many dear friends with whom she maintained contact over decades. She was a lover of learning -- about people, local histories, arts, and culture -- and she had a rich social and intellectual life enjoyed with Dwight.
She is survived by Dwight and their 3 children, as well as 4 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
Gifts in Sue's memory may be made to Pikes Peak Public Library at ppld.org/foundation/donate or mailed to 1175 Chapel Hills Dr, Colorado Springs 80920. Checks may be made payable to the PPLD Foundation.