Susan Simpson

Susan Simpson, 76, retired librarian, of Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, passed away October 15, 2025. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, she graduated from South Saint Paul High School in 1967 and earned her Bachelor’s in English from Bemidji State College in 1972, during which time she married. The couple moved several times, first to Edmonton, Alberta and eventually Colorado Springs, Colorado. The couple divorced when their daughter was three. She found work at Pikes Peak Library, where she was mentored and discovered her professional calling. She earned her MLS from the University of Denver in 1982 and continued to work for the Pikes Peak Library system until moving to Southern California in 1990 to join the staff of the Carlsbad City Library. There, she led collection development, oversaw a change in collection management software, and helped lead the move to a newly constructed library building. She retired as head of collection development in 2010 and moved to Chicago to be near her grandchild. Susan was very organized. Her colleagues and loved ones often relied on her to keep track of information, and she never met a problem a good spreadsheet couldn't solve. Although she didn’t cook, she loved to bake bread, cakes, and cookies. She was the keeper of her family's pfeffernusse cookie recipe and made a batch each year to share with the handful of fellow pfeffernusse aficionados in her family. She loved the color yellow, sunflowers, and anything lemon-flavored. She was a strict grammarian and Scrabble enthusiast who also delighted in teaching her grandson the Wellck family variation of rules for Mah Jong. Susan was an avid reader with a particular love of mystery novels, especially John Sandford, P.D. James, and Laurie R. King. Susan came to gardening late in life but found great joy and satisfaction in creating a garden around the home she shared with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson during her final years. She also enjoyed watching and feeding the birds and hosting their bird bath. She leaves behind an entire crisper drawer of seeds devoted to her bird friends. Loving mother of Lisa May Simpson and mother in-law of Tim Lacey. Devoted grandmother (“Nana”) of Corvus Beckett Donahue Simpson-Lacey. Sister of Nancy (Tom) Nissen of Maple Grove, MN and Donald (Roberta) Wellck of Woodbury, MN. Daughter of the late Raymond Henry Wellck and Florence Leona Wellck (nee Wahl). Also survived by dear friends Linda (John) Longo of Colorado Springs, Kathy Lance of Denver, and Callie Ahrens of California. Former spouse of Trevor (Manette) Simpson of Tucson, AZ. The family has chosen to donate Susan’s body to science through the Anatomical Gift Association. Services are private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to Pike’s Peak Library (https://www.friendsofppld.org/donate) or Carlsbad City Library (https://library.carlsbadca.gov/our-library/support-us). Arrangements by Inclusive Funeral Care, 773-318-1305 or www.InclusiveFuneralCare.com.

Susan Simpson

January 29, 1949 - October 15, 2025