A visitation for Dr. Susan M. Scott, 72, Manhattan, will be Saturday, May 20 at Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz, Manhattan, KS, from 10:00a.m. until 12:00p.m.
A Celebration of Life in Manhattan and a private burial at Prairie Grove Cemetery in Cottonwood Falls, KS will follow at later dates.
Susan died on May 13, 2023, at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka.
She was born on April 22, 1951, in Great Bend, Kansas and is the daughter of Robert Raymond and Mary Lee (Stewart) Scott who preceded her in death.
She married Dennis Angle in 1975 and later divorced. She then married Dr. Lane Marshall, former dean of Landscape Architecture at Kansas State University who preceded her in death in 2003.
Survivors include her children Paul Angle, 45 (Josh) of Junction City and Lilly Marshall, 25 of North Kansas City, MO. Other survivors include her three brothers Billy Hall (Linda), Patrick Scott (Gia) and Mike Scott (Nancy) and numerous nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces.
Susan earned her undergraduate degree in Library Sciences at Emporia State University. She later received her master’s degree in counseling and a Ph.D. in counseling from Kansas State.
Susan was employed at Kansas State from 1976 until she retired in 2013. Besides working in the K-State counseling services office she is credited with creating and directing the Leadership Studies program at Kansas State. She retired with the title of Founding Director of the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University. To honor her service at Leadership Studies the faculty and staff there established the Susan M. Scott Community Leadership Award.
Another noteworthy accomplishment during her KSU days was when she co-authored, along with Bob Shoop, a book called “Leadership Lessons from Bill Snyder” in 1998.
Besides at K-State, Susan also used her leadership abilities throughout the Manhattan community. Her early work with the Rape Survivors Support Group was the start of The Crisis Center of Manhattan. She co-founded the Riley County women’s political caucus. In the 1980s, she worked with others to establish a sister city relationship with Nindiri, Nicaragua. And she formed a community group to advocate for progressive public school learning activities.
Her community activism in later years was as one of the founders of PFLAG, beginning a support group for family members of the LGBT community. At K-State, Susan co-chaired the Task Force on Retention of Minority students, which brought about many changes, significantly, the establishment of an office of diversity. Using the same task force model, she studied and advocated for adult students, women students, gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual students. Susan was a woman of many rare gifts and talents who generously devoted them all in service to progressive change.
In lieu of flowers the family suggests donating to the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University. Donations may be made directly to the school at 257 Leadership Studies, 1300 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, KS 66506 or may be sent in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502.