With her son, David, by her side, Susan Helen Paul Deter died peacefully in her sleep on October 22, 2023 in her apartment at Somerby at St.Vincent’s in Birmingham, Alabama. Her family and friends remember her with great love and gratitude.
Susan was born in Milbank, South Dakota on December 12, 1932 to George Paul and Katharine Mesmer Paul. She grew up on the plains of South Dakota and remembered fondly stories from her childhood with loving parents and her two older brothers, Bob and Bill. She was a tomboy who followed her father to hunt and fish. As a teen, the family moved to Selby, South Dakota where her pharmacist father owned and operated the local Rexall Drugstore and Susan spent days working the soda counter. She attended Macalester College in Minneapolis then transferred to the University of South Dakota. She met Charles William Deter at USD and married him in Vermillion on September 2, 1955. Susan’s life was full of love and care for her family, her community, and her church regardless of where she lived. Her husband’s job moved them from Sioux City, Iowa to Spokane, Washington; then to Peoria, Illinois; then Cedarburg, Wisconsin; Dallas, Texas; Naperville, Illinois. She retired with Bill in 1989 to their cottage on Crystal Lake in Wautoma, Wisconsin which was one of her most favorite places in the world. They also wintered in Sun City West, AZ for 10 years before spending their last years together in Birmingham, Alabama.
Susan brought her beautiful smile, midwestern clarity and common sense, humor, laughter, and open-heartedness to every place she lived and to every person she met. She profoundly impacted her family and friends with her willingness to serve on church committees, as a decades long member of PEO, as a member of the Friends of the Wautoma Library, and on various committees at Somerby at St. Vincent’s.
She is survived by her oldest son, Scott William Deter and his wife, Margaret of Naperville, Illinois; her youngest son, David George Deter and his wife, Mandy of Birmingham, Alabama, her daughter-in-law, Lori Deter Ruelle and husband, Brian Ruelle of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; her grandchildren, Brett Daniel Deter and wife, Jackie of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Ali Deter and partner Danny Sanders of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Katharine “Frankie” Deter of Birmingham, Alabama; Wiliam Benjamin “Bennie” Deter of NYC, NY; and John “Jack” David Deter of NYC, NY; and her first and adored great grandson, Maverick Danny Sanders of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is preceded in death by her husband, Charles William Deter; and her son, Daniel Paul Deter.
A memorial service is planned for Sunday, November 19 at 2pm in the Somerby Room at Somerby at St. Vincent’s 200 One Nineteen Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35242. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to P.E.O. International via Kathy Beaumont; 7096 North Highfield Drive; Birmingham, Alabama 35242.
