Susan Barsness

On Nov. 23, 2006, our beloved Susan Lynn Barsness, 51, went to be with the Lord following an automobile accident.

Susan was born Jan. 29, 1955, in Norton, Kan., to Nan and Jerry Hicks. She graduated from high school in White Bear Lake, Minn., and married Steven Barsness on March 21, 1975.

Susan was a dental assistant in Whitefish for 10 years before getting her nursing degree from MSU in 1995. She has been a home health nurse since that time for Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

She was the heart of her family, with a zest for life that everyone who knew her will always recall. She had a great sense of humor, but was always thoughtful and tender, invariably sensitive to everyone and everything around her.

She enjoyed traveling and exploring many areas if the country, to include biking across New Zealand and sea kayaking in Glacier Bay with Steve, her beloved husband of 31 years.

Everyone loved her not only for her ever-present grace and sunny attitude, but also for her standards of loyalty. No one who knew her can remember her having a bad word to say about anyone.

She wrote beautiful and expressive letters, making you laugh out loud with her joy for life. She was also an artist, her eye unerringly capturing the beauty and detail of life around her in music, theater and photography.

"We are all richer for having known her and are grateful for having her for as long as God was able to lend her to us."

Susan is survived by her husband Steven; parents Jerry and Nan Hicks; sister Deb and her husband Joe Bowers, of Columbia Falls; brother Doug Hicks, of Stillwater, Minn.; nephews Ryan and Dustin Hicks, of Stillwater; sister-in-law Cindy Barsness, of White Bear Lake; father- and mother-in-law Ray and Ardell Barsness, of White Bear Lake; and nephews-in-law Curtis and Scott Barsness, of White Bear Lake.

Memorial services for Susan were held Nov. 29, 2006, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork, with Rev. Jack Shannon officiating.