Refa Mae Emery Daniels Sumner, known as “Susie”, left us on February 6th to embark on yet another adventure.
Susie was born on October 27, 1940 to Ernest Leroy Emery and Agnes May Harris Emery Osterman McMullen in a pioneer family in Mojave County. Her maternal grandmother was Agnes Pearl Fancher Harris. Susie is the second child and has talked a lot about her older brother Ned Emery.
Her favorite stories of her childhood in Kingman were adventures with many friends and time spent in the Hualapai Mountains. Her first marriage to her Susie produced three children who were with her when she died peacefully and missed her deeply. Lynn Daniels Bileti (Jay) of Sonoita, Arizona; Barbara Daniels, Prescott Valley, Arizona; John Daniels Jr., Prescott Valley, Arizona;
Susie’s adventures were many, from horseback riding in the Hualapai Mountains in her youth to flying training in Kingman in the early 1980s. Susie always wanted to learn to fly. It was a big day when she got her private pilot’s license and her Aerobat plane. She enjoyed many flights on that plane, but she rarely got in a straight line.
She had a long career with United Parcel Service and talked about delivering packages to many ranches in remote areas of Mojave County. and drove the route to Las Vegas across the original freeway across the Hoover Dam at night with two trailers. A few years later she transferred to a hub in Phoenix to continue driving her lorry. She later became her UPS trainer for heavy trucks.
During these years she met and married James Weir Sumner. They had her two interests, planes and trucks, and the two really bonded. Sure, they had other interests, and they made the most of their time by traveling together and making many friends across the country. , jewelery and silversmith works are very rich. Above all, her family is blessed with voices of sympathy from her lifelong connections.Her humor and caring personality live on in our memory.
Susie was bequeathed to her husband, Jim Sumner. She has her three children and her four great-grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be held on March 9, 2023 at 10 am at Elgin Her Community Club in Sonoita, Arizona. A second Celebration of Life will be held in April in Kingman, Arizona. Instead of flowers, please consider donating Susie in her name to her Elgin Community Club Scholarship Fund (PO Box 124, Sonoita, AZ, 85637).
