Susan Kay Gleason

Susan Kay Gleason, 81, of Aurora Colorado, passed away peacefully in her home on June 4, 2026. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Susan’s absence will be deeply felt by all who knew her.

Born in Omaha Nebraska, Susan was the first daughter of Gordon and Bettye Swanson. She attended nursing school at Nebraska Methodist College, graduating with her nursing degree on September 4th of 1966 when she was twenty-one years old. She began her nursing career in Pediatrics, but found her true calling in Geriatric Care. She administrated several long term care facilities in Colorado, including Iliff Care Center and Garden Terrace where she worked with Alzheimer’s patients. She continued her career as a nurse with Health Dialog and Colorado Access, which required her to become registered as a nurse in all fifty-states, something she liked to boast about in her later years.

It seemed there was never a time when Susan didn’t have at least one furry companion in her home. Though, she set a record with eleven: three dogs, four cats, a rabbit, a guinea pig, and two parakeets. In spite of the protestations of her husband and her boys, Susan also loved to feed the squirrels in her backyard, attempted to nurse lost baby birds back to health, and even allowed multiple stray cats to move into her home. The various suburban wildlife no doubt shared the location of the house where they were sure to be fed.

Every year Susan hosted the family events in her home. The Fourth of July cookouts, Thanksgiving Dinners, and Christmas Eve Celebrations, though the Halloween Parties became the most famous, or perhaps infamous. At the beginning of October the party invitations would go out, inevitably more kids would show up than were invited. Rather than be annoyed, Susan accepted every kid who knocked at the door for those parties.

Susan met her husband Wayne in 1966, and they married January 13, 1967, a Friday. A fact which likely accounted for the behavior of the four children they would ultimately have together. Despite the auspicious beginning date, their marriage lasted fifty-seven years. Wayne’s military career took her and the family all over the country, from Anchorage Alaska to Clovis New Mexico, and this grew into a love of traveling. Whether on the family road trips to the National Parks, or the long drives to San Francisco, Susan wanted to experience as much of the country as possible. Her Hawaiian Cruise with Wayne was probably her favorite. She spent years bragging about seeing the whales, and dreaming about the blue waterfalls of Maui.

Susan’s husband, Wayne Gleason, preceded her in death. She is survived by her four sons: Mark, David, Jeffrey, and Derrick, her Grandchildren, Great - Grandchildren, and her two nieces.

 In lieu of flowers please make a donation to True Companions Animal Shelter or Humane Colorado.

https://truecompanions.org/home

https://humanecolorado.org/