Suzie Payne Leavitt was born Suzie Deen Payne to Joseph Otto Payne and Myrtle Mitchell on July 30th in the year of 1951 in Pocatello, Idaho. Her father was a farmhand and mother was a stay-at-home mom in the small town of Aberdeen, Idaho. There she lived with her parents and her older sister, Lovinia.

In 1959, at the age of 8, they packed up and moved to Idaho Falls. By 1970, Suzie graduated high school at Skyline High School, and soon there after, she picked up a job at a potato processing plant in Shelley. There she met Ambro Walters. They would go on to be lifelong friends until Ambro's unexpected death due to a heart attack.

After leaving the potato plant, Suzie would go on to work as a CNA at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls for 12 years. There she would meet a pregnant woman by the name of Corrina Rodriguez. She took her in and helped in the up bringing of her son who was named after Suzie's husband at the time, Billy Williams.

During Suzie's life, she also raised a daughter, Varinia Jo, and legally adopted her stepson, Christopher Allen.

Suzie is survived by her daughter, Varinia Wood, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; son, Christopher Smith, of Illinois; her grandson, Billy Williams, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; and a sister, Lovina McDaniel, of Boise, Idaho.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Kip Leavitt, and her parents, Joseph and Myrtle Payne, of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

A visitation will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 25, and one hour before services Friday at Buck Miller Hann Funeral Home in Idaho Falls. A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Buck Miller Hann. Followed by interment at Aberdeen City Cemetery in Aberdeen, Idaho.

Arrangements made under the direction of Buck Miller Hann Funeral Home in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Online condolences may be left at www.buckmillerhann.com.



Published in Post Register May 24, 2017