In memoriam: Suzan Barker was an Unfettered Freethinker

FFRF Member Suzan Palmer Barker, 71, died on Oct. 7 by suicide because of her depression. 

She was born Nov. 18, 1947, to John Morris and Imogene Davis in Oklahoma.
Suzan was married to Darrell Barker, brother of FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, for 29 years. She lived in Shelton, Wash., for the past 10 years. She worked as a certified nurse assistant.

According to her obituary in the Shelton-Mason County Journal, “She was enamored with cats, and was the proverbial ‘cat lady,’ once having 39 in her own personal ‘no-kill sanctuary.’” She was down to three cats at the time of her death.

She loved reading because it “satisfied her insatiable curiosities.” The obit continued, “A fiercely loyal woman to her husband and family, she was known to often say ‘at the end of the day, it’s all about family!’”

Suzan was a lifelong atheist and a liberal Democrat, a member of FFRF, Unfettered Freethinkers of South Sound and Olympia Sunday Assembly.