Susan Kaye Killingbeck November 17, 1953 October 12, 2025
My mom at 70. She loved foraging wild plants.
Susan Kaye Killingbeck
My mom passed away on Sunday, October 12, at age 71. She lived a brave, humble, and extraordinary life. After a year with ALS, her body is at rest and her soul is free. I will miss her forever.
We will remember Susan Kaye Killingbeck with a simple burial (Sunday, October 19) followed by a Celebration of Life (Sunday, November 16).
Burial
Date: Sunday, October 19, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Riverside Cemetery, 169 High Street, Wakefield, RI, 02879 (Left, rear side of the cemetery; see diagram below.) The cemetery is accessible by road or by the William C O'Neil Bike Path.
Description: All are welcome. Attire is outdoor casual. We’ll begin with music and family stories. After that, everyone is invited to share stories, memories, songs, poems, or whatever you feel. We’ll close with a poetry reading and music.
Notes: This simple remeberance will be followed by a larger Celebration of Life in November. (Please see details below.)
The burial will be held at the left side of the cemetery, next to the river.
Celebration of Life
Date: Sunday, November 16, 2025
Time: TBD
Location: Southern Rhode Island, exact location TBD (Please check this page for an update.)
More information coming shortly.
Obituary
My parents were married for fifty years. My dad wrote my mom’s obituary:
Born Susan Kaye Schmit on 17 November 1953, Susan was one of 10 children raised by Edward and Cecilia Schmit on a small farm in the prairie heartlands of North Dakota. Second from the youngest, Susan attended elementary and high school in Lisbon, ND and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Dakota. There she met the love of her life, Keith Killingbeck, who she married in a flood on 5 July 1975. Susan taught high school in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and biology labs at Kansas State University, before moving to Rhode Island in 1979. There she and Keith were lucky enough to raise two beautiful children (Brent, 1983) and daughter (Laura, 1985). After pursuing genetics research at the University of Rhode Island, Susan continued her teaching career, spending most of it with the age group she loved most: elementary school kids.
Following retirement, Susan was a frequent volunteer for a number of organizations and was able to spend much more time in her heaven-on-earth - her garden. No doubt a throwback to her childhood on the family farm, Susan absolutely loved being in her green domain. An extension of that domain was any natural landscape that she could hike or paddle through. Hiking, camping, canoeing, and just being outside were all frequent activities that nourished her soul.
The written word was one of Susan’s many special gifts. From her always-unique Christmas letters to her creative poetry, she had a special way of grabbing the attention, and better yet, the imagination, of anyone lucky enough to have her writings in front of them.
Everyone who ever met Susan was touched by her profound goodness. Even in the darkest days of the Lou Gehrig’s Disease that ultimately took her life, she had a smile and a laugh that could immediately melt away countless layers of hardened sadness. Her kind, gentle, caring nature had a soothing quality that wrapped you up in a blanket of love.
Susan is survived by her husband (Keith), son (Brent), daughter (Laura), brothers Edward (Bertha), John, and William Schmit (Amy), sisters Ellen Olmstead (Richard) and Barbara Cameron, sisters-in-law Cheryl Schmit and Chere Schmit, and many nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and cousins.
Susan is also preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Kathleen, in infancy, and Mary Ann Schmit, and her brothers Joseph and Donald.
In lieu of sending flowers, please consider making a donation in Susan’s name to the nonprofit food panty at which she volunteered for many years; the Rhode Island Center Assisting Those In Need (RICAN), P.O Box 73, Carolina, RI 02812 (www.rhodeislandcan.org).
