Susan D. VanderWaal

Susan Denise Copin VanderWaal was born in Kalamazoo, MI on October 27, 1964, as the youngest child of John and Edith Edwards Copin of Hickory Corners, MI.  She joined older siblings John, Jeanne, and Teresa. Sue grew up in the Battle Creek area and attended elementary and secondary school at Battle Creek Academy, from which she graduated in 1982.  She continued her education at Andrews University and Lake Michigan College, receiving her RN in 1985.  She completed her BS from the University of Michigan and her Master of Science in Nursing with a clinical specialization from Andrews University. In elementary school, one grade ahead of her, Sue met Curtis Jon VanderWaal.  They completed school together, worked at summer camp, and married in Urbandale, MI, on June 16, 1985.  Sue was happy to expand her family to include Curt’s parents, Pat and Neal, and his siblings, and they became very dear to each other. Sue and Curt continued their education and started their professional careers.  Sue first embraced her vocation of caring for babies at the University of Michigan hospital, in the continuing care nursery.  When the VanderWaals moved to the Berrien Springs, MI area in 1990, Sue began work at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Memorial Hospital of South Bend, where she pursued her career for the next 24 years.  She began as a staff nurse, worked as a primary nurse, and later managed the unit’s computer systems.  She also served as Assistant Unit Director.  In the course of her career, she was responsible for hands-on care of her tiny patients, training of new staff, transporting babies, parent education and helping to administer the unit.  Her colleagues universally remember and speak of her as compassionate, patient, intelligent—a versatile, gifted nurse.   Sue was especially empathetic to the stress of the new parents and bonded with many, keeping in touch through the unit’s annual reunions where she was rewarded by seeing her “babies” happy and robust. Sue and Curt welcomed their own babies into their family, beginning with Michael Jon in 1991, then Benjamin Edward in 1995, and Emma Denise in 2001.  A devoted mother, Sue helped out at school, cheered them on at many games, supported their participation in the Youth Fair, nurtured their many interests, helped take care of their animals, loved and “adopted” their friends, and loved each child unconditionally.  Sue and Curt loved to travel with their family throughout the United States and also to Europe. In early 2012, Sue and her family learned she had breast cancer.  She fought valiantly through surgeries, radiation, and chemo, and enjoyed every minute with family and friends.  But the disease progressed to her brain and spine, and Sue lost her battle on Saturday, February 22, 2014.  She was tenderly nursed through the final days of her illness by her family and especially her dear friends Connie Guerra and DeEtta Chen. Sue was preceded in death by her mother, Edith Copin, in 1982.  She is survived by her husband Curt, her children, Michael, Benjamin and Emma (all at home), her father John Copin and her stepmother Della, her brother John (Ruth Ann) Copin, her sisters Jeanne (Dale) Dent and Teresa (Mark) Cope, her father and mother-in-law Neal and Patricia VanderWaal and their children, Greg (Kimberly), Gail (James) Micheff, Robert (Jennifer), and Chris (Macie), many nieces and nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews, and a myriad of friends. Donations in Sue’s memory may be made to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit of Memorial Hospital of South Bend, 615 N. Michigan, South Bend, IN  46601, in care of Diane Freel.