Susan "Sue" Lee Attoe

Sue was born on July 12, 1956 in New London, WI to Frederick “Jay” and Mary Mattick. She was the third of her parents’ four children.

Sue graduated from New London High School in 1974. She briefly attended Ripon College in Ripon, WI before ultimately graduating with honors from The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Later, Sue earned her teaching credential from Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, CA.

While at UW Oshkosh, Sue met a fellow student named Timothy “Tim” Attoe. Sue and Tim were married in Reno, NV in 1980. Two years later, their daughter Sarikka was born.

Sue was a wonderful and dedicated mother, regularly volunteering her time and energy. Among other roles, she served as a Girl Scout troop leader, a team mom for Sarikka’s cross country team, and PTA President.

Intelligent and talented, Sue wore a wide variety of hats in her professional career, from sales manager to travel agent to dog walker and stay-at-home mom. She had a longtime jewelry and craft business. Her passion, however, was teaching. She worked for many years as an English teacher at California High School, in San Ramon, CA, and later as an English tutor.

Traveling was another passion for Sue. England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, France, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, and The Netherlands are just some of the places she explored with Tim and Sarikka.

We remember Sue as a caring wife and mother who loved camping, hiking, and reading and discussing books. She started and led The Happy Hour Book Club for the last 8 years. She had already read 30 books this year. She loved dancing to country music. She loved zoos and aquariums (foxes and octopi were her favorites) and was so good at Scrabble she had to lose intentionally to get anyone to play with her. A talented artist, she made beautiful paintings and crafts, and always had a project going. She was very adventurous and unafraid to paddle in an inflatable kayak surrounded by alligators in the bayous around Houston, flying in a small plane piloted by her husband, or doing some serious 4-wheeling. She had lived in 6 US states and London, England.

Sue loved all animals, but especially her beloved dogs, her many grand-pets, and the local wild horses. She enjoyed bird-watching and had taken a drive down to the Carson valley to see the bald eagles.

Sue kept in constant contact with her daughter, sisters and sisters-in-law. She also communicated frequently with old classmates, former students, people she had met in other countries, and her many Facebook friends.

Having lived with diabetes for 63 years, Sue acted as an inspiration to others with type 1 diabetes. She visited newly diagnosed children and their parents in Houston hospitals, and participated in many walk-a-thons supporting diabetic research, showing others that a person with diabetes can live a long and productive life. Sue participated in many advocacy groups on Facebook and was extremely proud of her 50 year medal from Joslin Diabetic Center in Boston. Sue asked that her body be donated to Joslin to help in the fight against diabetes.

She is survived by her husband Tim, daughter Sarikka (Jesse) Cambell, sisters Christine (Randall) Olson and Karen Rugotska, mother-in-law Anne Attoe, and sisters-in-law Cheryl (Jeff) Bennett, Jill (Frank) Olson and Pam Mattick, nieces and nephews Brittany, Lars, Benjamin, Annika, Grant, Evan, and Holly.

She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Paul Mattick, brother-in-law Jeff Rugotska, father-in-law Alson Attoe and nephew Anders Olson.

In Lieu of flowers or gifts please consider making a donation to Breakthrought1d.org (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).