Susan M. Fey

A bright light was born to Betty and Will Fey on April 16,1954 in Madison Wisconsin. The middle of three children, Sue was a spirited, independent child with boundless curiosity. She had a rural lot in Verona and then a 140 acre farm in Dodgeville as her playground. It was at the family farm and on vacations in northern Wisconsin and on the Florida Gulf that Sue cultivated her love of nature. She took it all in, the land, water, birds, creatures of all types and the skies, clouds, stars, and moons. She treasured her childhood and spoke of it often. With her parents mentoring and an endless supply of projects at her fingertips, Sue’s inquisitiveness and penchant for solving problems resulted in a life-long love of art and design, and an enduring creative spirit. Sue’s all-around love of nature guided her to the biology club in high school, where she established the roots of several life-long friendships.

Sue spent a year at the University of Montana – mostly skiing, fishing, writing poetry, and shooting pool at the VFW. Recognizing that college wasn’t quite the right fit, she headed off to Vermont and the Green Mountains to pursue her artwork. Her creative soul and passion for beautiful natural places shaped her entire life. When Sue returned to Madison, she started taking art classes part time at the University of Wisconsin and applied for a student position with Wisconsin Public Television -or WHA-TV as it was called in the 70’s.

WHA-TV was a place where people went to work in a field that promised challenge and fulfillment. What many ended up with was so much more. For some it was a core of colleagues, for others it was a community of good friends, and still for others a group of folks tied by kinship-a family. For well over 30 years, Sue was a light in all those ways…she was a designer, a mentor, a collaborator, a dear friend. She managed the fuzzy lines of these different worlds in a way that facilitated intersections.

She was a designer…her work role was as a designer in multiple capacities, including graphic and video design. Her design work was thoughtful, refined, and a little edgy. She lived through the lens of creation and design; and had an ease with the aesthetic. She allowed herself to play, to test the boundaries, be audacious, and then proceed with intention while celebrating positive unintentional outcomes.

She was a mentor…Sue’s design sense was so strong that many looked to her for advice and for guidance. But it wasn’t just her design acumen, it was her natural instincts as a mentor both in work and life. Through personal interactions or broader intersections, colleagues and friends learned so much more from her about design, and the craft and skills for navigating the jobs at hand, as well as about life. She left a bunch of little “baby Sues” out there in this world who were changed forever by her lessons.

She was a collaborator… She saw the challenge of a solution not the barrier of a problem…whether it be in a project or personal or both. In a creative world one exposes one’s strengths and frailties, it can be hard and egos need to be quieted. Sue was a master at knowing how to navigate the ideas and personalities in a room full of colleagues. From black and white ads for the local paper to video graphic design for national productions, from impromptu hallway conversations to leadership on the Diversity Council for Extension, her touch was present both in the end product and in the community she created to get there. She had an uncanny ability to listen and hear and people and translate that into language that could help clarify meaning. Her honesty was disarming and refreshing, and made people feel valued. She paid attention and she made a difference.

She built family…Through all that gets swirled around as time passes, Sue stayed steadfast in her honesty, her sense of humor, curiosity, and her enduring generosity. She trusted her barometer as to when to step in when she was needed the most, whether in work or in friendship. Because it really wasn’t just work, it was family. She was a master at creating community and embracing family. She made a difference to so many people and is deeply missed.

When Sue and Les met (about a third of the way through Sue’s career), they each knew they had found someone with whom they could be completely themselves. They worked, traveled to both the east and west coasts yearly, as well as the Bahamas, and spent many an evening with Betty and Will easing them through the latter part of their lives. Sue was also actively involved with the Southern Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited and did a two year stint as the president of the Chapter. She enjoyed the work as well as the comradery and the fly fishing. In 2013 they took a trip to Nova Scotia. Where they promptly fell in love with the Province; the kindness of the people, the pace of life, and the unending supply of beautiful water. The timing was just right. Sue retired, got back into painting, and had an accepted offer on a little cottage in Nova Scotia on Sue’s 60th birthday. Sue loved learning all about the south shore of Nova Scotia. She also loved learning to cook seafood the Nova Scotia way. The back door neighbors and their grandson all became good friends. Sue and Les loved having guests and sharing the beauty of Nova Scotia with their friends. Six years later, Sue and Les moved to Brewster, a small town on Cape Cod (much shorter drive to Nova Scotia), where once again they were well surrounded by beautiful marshes, coves, driftwood and incredible beaches and the ocean.

Retirement painting in Wisconsin

Drawn to the creative elements of oil and cold wax painting, Sue took an intensive class in 2017 at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point. Over the next few years, she studied under James Sherbarth and Pamela Caughey extensively. Those experiences birthed a painting retreat collective that allowed the formation of deep friendships and ongoing oil and cold wax painting exploration. The synergy of the group grew during the pandemic – meeting weekly for lunch and then for some Zoom style painting retreats. Post pandemic, the painting collective resumed gathering for painting retreats at SRA. The Collective also collaborated for two art shows at the Peace Gallery in Waunakee. Sue was known by the members of that group to be an exceptionally talented painter, a gentle voice of reflective encouragement, an extraordinary playlist creator, a catalyst for creative processes, and a model for living unapologetically into the fullness of her humanity. In the last few years she experimented with blending mostly her own landscape photos with digital copies of her paintings creating digital abstract fusions that she called, “Pairings”. She was constantly perfecting that process as she created evocative fusions of those two expressions. In her November artist’s statement, Sue shared, “I think of all abstract expression as a kind of subconscious reckoning with the surprising collection of certainties and uncertainties that make each of us unique, remarkable and beautifully human. I have been drawn, unaccountably, to coastlines and little boats since I was a child. Echoes of these embedded influences exist in my work, regardless of my conscious intention”. By all measures, Sue was an artist of being alive and it left an imprint on us all.

Retirement painting in Stonehurst Nova Scotia

Sue joined our South Shore Shunpike art community two years ago with a full and generous heart. She participated in both the first and second annual South Shore Shunpike, inspired by the shores and artists of Stonehurst, Blue Rocks, and Cape Cod.

Her inquisitive, grounded work offered new shoreline perspectives, carrying the honesty of sea air and open sky. She believed deeply in the power of artistic community – where human connection, shared vision, and diverse voices shape something larger than any single horizon.

She leaves behind a legacy of curiosity, unity, and belonging. We honour you, Sue – may your shores be endless, and your artistic spirit live on in love.

Sue had no fear of dying. In Sue’s words: “I had a series of recurring dreams that varied in detail, but all culminated in a moment of what I can only describe as emotional ecstasy…so forceful it would wake me. The last time I had the dream, I woke with a profound and unshakable certainty that this is what happens when we die: being collected back into the loving force of the Universe, and filled beyond imagining, with a kind of profound joy and the comfort of going home”.

GRIEVE NOT,

NOR SPEAK OF ME WITH TEARS,

BUT LAUGH AND TALK OF ME

AS IF I WERE BESIDE YOU

‘TWAS HEAVEN TO BE

HERE WITH YOU,

I LOVED YOU SO.

-ISLA PASCAL RICHARDSON

Sue was preceded in death by her “folks” Will and Betty Fey. Sue is survived by her partner and wife Leslie Mueller, sister Nan, brother David (Hugh Smeltekop), niece Hilary Fey-Cronon Bobel (Matthew Bobel), nephew Jeremy Fey Cronon (Amy Lones), and grand-nibling Avery Cronon Bobel. Sue’s larger-than-life spirit will continue to burn brightly in these and the innumerable other cherished members of her chosen family.

A Celebration of Sue’s life will be held on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 1134 Sherman Ave. Madison, WI from 1:00 – 4:00pm. Please join us in celebrating Sue. We would love to hear remembrances, stories, recollections be they spoken or written.

Memorial gifts in memory of Sue can be given to: PBS Wisconsin (pbswisconsin.org/donate)

Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited (www.swtu.org)

Driftless Area Land Conservancy (www.driftlessconservancy.org)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (www.whoi.edu/givenow)

Cress Funeral & Cremation Services

3610 Speedway Road 608-238-3434