Susan Hickerson

Susan Hickerson

Cedar Rapids

Susan Gay Hickerson, 77, passed away early on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 14th, 2023 at the Rehabilitation Center of Lisbon, Iowa.

A lifelong resident of Iowa, Susan was born Nov. 3rd, 1946 in Grinnell, Iowa, daughter of Dr. Luther Hickerson, physician, and Ruth Adair Hickerson, artist and teacher, of Brooklyn, Iowa. For many years she had been a resident of Cedar Rapids. She is survived by her two sisters, Patricia Ahart of Cedar Rapids and Jeanne Paulsen of Seattle, Wash; two nieces, Patricia Smith of Cedar Rapids and Sue Schneweis of Overland Park, Kan., and a great-niece Katie Schneweis of Kansas City, Mo. She is also survived by her loving friend of many years, Suzanne Steensen-Ravn of Liverpool, England.

Sue was a lifelong advocate of learning, a perpetual student, and a constant practitioner of the arts. She is fondly remembered as a remarkably accomplished and sensitive stage actor. She trained at the University of Northern Iowa and earned a graduate degree Master of Fine Arts in acting at the University of Iowa. She appeared on stages as far away as New York City. She was also a dedicated and versatile writer, producing fan fiction, science fiction, as well as several books on her own philosophy: the practical application of the power of joyful and positive living. Sue had, as well, her mother’s gift for artistic expression in pencil and paint, as well as using her favorite medium of the computer to produce an extensive series of abstracted images drawn from personal photographs.

Sue’s memory will be cherished for her remarkably loving and generous nature, even- and especially- when faced with many increasing and serious health challenges. She was loved– by her family, and by her friends; by those who knew her all her life, and by those she had only just met; by those that cared for her and by those for whom she cared.

In memoriam will be held in the spring.

In Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare writes “Beauty lives with kindness.” Susan’s was a beautiful soul indeed.