Susan Carrie Shier Martz Wayland
December 13, 1938 - September 02, 2021
A tiny powerhouse from the beginning, Susan Carrie Shier was born to Sarah (Sally) Jane von Pohek and Eugene (Gene) William Shier in Chicago, Illinois on December 13, 1938. She weighed 3.5 lbs. Sally and Gene divorced when she was 3, and Sally married Edwin P. Martz. Together Sally and Ed gave Susan three siblings - a sister, Carolyn, and two brothers, Larry and Jon. As a child, she survived typhoid fever, roseola, and polio, and moved to many places including China Lake (California) and Alamogordo (New Mexico), where she graduated as valedictorian of her high school. She earned a BS in Math and a Masters in German from University of Arizona in Tucson, where she met her husband of 60 years, James Robert (Bob) Wayland, Jr. Together, they had two girls, Sarah and Jennifer. As Bob pursued his Ph.D., post-doc, and professorship in physics, the family moved from Tucson, to Silver Spring, MD, College Station, TX, and finally landed in Albuquerque.
When her daughters were in elementary and middle school, Susan started law school at the University of New Mexico. She wanted to use the law to change the world. She was on the law review and graduated at the top of her class, all while keeping the house and her family going. Susan was a lawyer for many years, first practicing family law, and then contract law at Sandia National Labs. Her strong moral and ethical sense made her a very good defender of the underdog.
She loved to serve the communities important to her, and sat on the Board of Directors for Sandia Laboratories Federal Credit Union, Deer Lake Association in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and for a timeshare in Flagstaff Arizona. Her thoughtfulness extended to her friends and family who knew how deeply she cared for them. She loved to laugh, and sometimes would laugh until she couldn’t breathe… getting her to that state was always a goal for us.
When Susan retired, she had more time to pursue her passions — reading, sewing, cooking, scrapbooking, gardening, and travel — until her dementia demanded 24/7 care. If you were to visit her in memory care, she would introduce you to every single person that walked by. To the end, she was polite, engaged and interested, even though she couldn’t understand why she was there and what was happening. Her life was not easy, but she was surrounded by friends and family that loved her. She will be missed.
Susan is survived by her husband of 60 years - Bob Wayland, daughter Sarah Wayland, son-in-law Alan Thompson, grandsons Justin Wayland and Oliver Thompson, daughter Jennifer Wayland, son-in-law Matthew Dailey, granddaughters Katherine Dailey and Lillian Dailey.
A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, September 26th at 3pm MDT using Zoom Video Conferencing. E-mail the family at SusanWaylandMemorial@gmail.com to get a link.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made either to The Sierra Club (https://www.sierraclub.org/) or the American Diabetes Association (https://www.diabetes.org/).
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