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Submitted: 3/13/17 • Approved: 3/27/20 • Last Updated: 12/29/20 • R1180445-G1180444-S3
September 19, 1949 - September 15, 2016
* obituary
The Baxter Bulletin
September 21, 2016
Susan Balentine Pitchford passed away September 15, 2016, in Mountain Home, Arkansas, after a 19 month battle against a very aggressive form of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Her fight brought her from Norfork, Arkansas, to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, in Seattle, Washington.
Susan was born September 19, 1949, in Marshall, Arkansas, to Cecil Warren and Ernestine Wynn Balentine and was raised in Big Flat, Arkansas. Susan graduated from Marshall High School, in Marshall, Arkansas, in 1967. She then attended the University of Central Arkansas, in Conway, Arkansas where she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Home Economics. She taught Home Economics in Fifty-Six, AR, and Mountain Home, AR. She met her husband, Roger, while working in Mountain Home, AR, and they were married in Big Flat, AR, June 8, 1974. She later, attended Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater, Oklahoma and earned her Masters Degree in Dietetics in 1985.
Susan excelled in her role as a mother, where she displayed the utmost patience, kindness, and love for her three children. She also worked as the Dietician for Breech Medical Center in Lebanon, MO, from 1988 to 1992. She then worked for the Arkansas State Health Department as a Dietician for the WIC program covering several counties in Arkansas from 1993 until her retirement.
Through the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture in Baxter County, Susan earned the title of Master Gardener. Susan loved to cook, sew, and garden and enjoyed long walks on her farm, spending time with her children and grandchildren, and daily Bible study. She was a loving daughter, wife, mother and grandmother and a faithful, life-long member of the Church of Christ.
Susan is survived by her husband and best friend, Roger Pitchford, MAJ, USA (ret); one daughter: Julia Ayers and her husband, Joshua, of Black Diamond, Washington; two sons: Dr. Clovis Pitchford and his wife, Dr. Bett Pitchford of Huntsville, Alabama, and Major Hanson Pitchford, USMC and his wife, Catherine, of Yuma, Arizona; and seven grandchildren: Eli, Brynley, Hadley, Josie, Madeleine, Florence and Isley. Susan is also survived by her parents, Warren and Ernestine Balentine; and by two brothers: Terry, and his wife Robbie Balentine and Don and his wife Myra Balentine, as well as by numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 10:00am, Saturday, September 24, 2016, at Roller Funeral Home, in Mountain Home, Arkansas, with Keith Sharp officiating. Visitation will be Noon to 9:00pm, Friday, September 23, 2016, with the family receiving friends from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the funeral home. Interment will be in Big Flat Cemetery. Arrangements are by Roller Funeral Home.
In Lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation in her memory to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, or the Big Flat Cemetery Association, C/O/ Sandi White, 1211 Hwy 14, Big Flat, Arkansas,72617.
(Photo courtesy of Larry Havner)
Contributed on 3/13/17 by maxparnell
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Record #: 1180445