Sue Ellen Wallis: 1957-2014
Sue Ellen Wallis
1957-2014
Sue Ellen Wallis was born Oct. 9, 1957, in Gillette, Wyo. She was the oldest child of Myrtle Greenough-Wallis and Dick Wallis. She grew up on Bitter Creek, in the Powder River Breaks, north of Recluse, Wyo. She attended school at Recluse Elementary and Campbell County High School graduating salutatorian in 1976. She was the first girl in the Campbell County FFA. She had a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming. She worked various jobs after high school, everything from being a ranch hand, working on an oil rig to being one of the first women coal miners in the Powder River Basin. In 1978, she became a mother to Isaac Wallis in Gillette, Wyo. In 1983 she married Bill Martin in Elk Mountain, Wyo. Megan was born in 1984, and Rys was born in 1985, both in Laramie, Wyo. In 1991 Sue and her kids moved to Starr Valley, Nev. She worked at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nev. In 1993, she married her sweetheart Rod McQueary under a full moon at the Starr Valley Hall. In 1998 Sue and Rod moved back to Bitter Creek, where they have lived since. Sue went back to work at a coal mine and then followed in her dad’s footsteps as a Wyoming State Representative in 2007. She was an incredible woman of many talents. She was an eloquent speaker, a published writer and poet, seeker of knowledge and a true patriot. Sue is survived by her parents, Dick and Myrt Wallis; her children, Isaac Wallis and wife Kristi, Megan Kruse and husband Cole, Rys Martin, Porter McQueary, Ceci McQueary and partner Ash Hakimi, Ian McQueary and Justine McQueary; her brothers Frank Wallis, Lew Wallis and wife Cristina, sister Dorisann Shipp and husband Jeff; and her grandchildren Maddox, Ezra and Cora Kruse and Arianna Hakimi, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins, and a multitude of friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Rod, who passed in December of 2012. In lieu of flowers a memorial has been established in Sue’s name. Memorials and condolences may be sent to the family in care of Walker Funeral Home, 410 Medical Arts Court, Gillette WY, 82716. Condolences may also be sent via website: http://www.walkerfuneralgillette.com
