Susan K Rasmussen

Susan Kay Rasmussen passed away peacefully the morning of Friday, February 24, 2023, five days after her 76th birthday, with her husband, David Rasmussen, holding her hand.
Susan was born on February 19, 1947, in Huntington Park, California, to Maxine Wagstaff and Alan Murray Rear.  She grew up in Pico Rivera, California, attended El Rancho High School and later graduated from Pioneer High School.
As a teenager, Susan was a religious seeker.  A friend introduced her to the early morning seminary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She began attending classes, met with the missionaries, and was baptized a few weeks later.  She attended the Whittier Ward before moving to Provo, where she enrolled at Brigham Young University in 1964.
Susan and David met at BYU where they were members of the same student ward.  While serving as ward financial clerk, David visited Susan’s apartment to collect budget donations.  After their brief visit ended, Susan told her roommates she had just met the man she was going to marry.  They were sealed five months later in the Salt Lake Temple on January 27, 1969.  Their marriage of 54 years produced seven children, 26 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Susan served many people over the years through her talents and testimony.  Her cookies were legendary, and her dinners were prized by many members of the Cottonwood Heights 4th Ward, where she and David lived for 42 years.  Susan particularly enjoyed serving as a Relief Society instructor.  Her lesson preparation was detailed and painstaking.  Her presentation motto was “make them laugh and make them cry.”  She often succeeded.
An ardent Anglophile, devoted bibliophile, and relentless grammarian, Susan subscribed to the opinion of John Taylor who said, “It is highly necessary that we should learn to read and write and speak our own language correctly”.  Even in her final days, Susan gently, but resolutely, corrected the pronunciation of words her children spoke in error.
Susan went camping.  Once.
Susan had only one known adversary: an anonymous woman with whom she was regularly engaged in a bidding war on eBay for Liberty scarves.  They never met.  But if they had, their shared interest in high-end British fashion accessories would almost certainly have made them fast friends.
In 2003, Susan was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.  This crisis focused the faith and galvanized the relationships of her family, who rallied around her in loving support.  She responded successfully to treatment, although she was reluctant to consider herself “cured” until it had been at least 20 years.  At the time of her passing, Mom had been cancer-free for 20 years and five days.
Susan valued her ancestry and cherished her posterity.  She generously supported her children and grandchildren in their efforts at earning degrees, purchasing vehicles, paying medical bills, buying diapers, celebrating birthdays, resupplying at Costco, and dressing fashionably.  What David earned, Susan freely gave away.  One of her favorite sayings, spoken often in restaurants and shopping malls, was, “Don’t be stingy, baby.”
Susan is survived by her sister, Janet Campbell, her husband, David Rasmussen, and their children: Shelley, David, Matt, Maren, Katie, Emma, and Annie.
Susan’s funeral will be held at the Cottonwood Heights 4th Ward chapel, 2522 East 6710 South, Cottonwood Heights, at 1:00 pm on Saturday, March 4, 2023.  Interment will follow at the Memorial Mountain View Cemetery, 3115 E. Bengal Boulevard, Cottonwood Heights.  Family members will greet guests for an hour immediately preceding the funeral.
Service Information

Funeral Service
March 4, 2023 at 1:00 PM
Church of Jesus Christ -2522 East 6710 South