Susan “Susie” Dale Melvin Coffman Wilkinson died peacefully at her rural home in Richmond on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, with family at her side after a long battle with cancer.
Her brother, Mick, and sister, Julie, had stayed at the farm for the final two months of her life so she could remain at home.
Susan was born Aug. 2, 1957 to Ernest Neld Melvin and Osa Lenore Veix Melvin in Little Rock, Ark., while her father was in the early years of his career in the United States Air Force.
As a child, she lived and attended school in Ottawa, except for a time in junior high school when she and her siblings lived with their father and attended school in Orlando, Fla.
Each summer, she and her siblings would have an extended visit to Panama City, Fla., with their Granddaddy and Grandmother Melvin, where they would go out in the fishing boats and go to the amusement park, where her granddaddy was the security guard. Her grandparents also hosted many of her summer birthday parties.
While growing up, she liked to attend the Junior Wranglers Saddle Club events with her big brother, Mick, and her cousin, Joe. She played the guitar in her youth, and loved to go fishing, especially with her mom and brother. She also loved games and cards and enjoyed countless hours playing cards with one of her favorite people — her Grandma Veix, as well as playing video games with her brother, Mick.
She learned to cook by spending many hours in the kitchen at the side of her mother and both grandmothers and grew up to be a wonderful cook and baker.
Her dishes were always among the favorites at any gathering or family dinner, and she had an extensive collection of recipe books. She loved working in her bountiful garden and had a real green thumb with her vegetable and flower gardens, as well as her many houseplants.
Susan was married to Richard Coffman on June 26, 1978, in Strong City. Rich managed a ranch near Maple Hill. Susan had a job in town, but also performed all of the many jobs of a rancher’s wife and kept up their large, historic two-story house on the ranch. While living on the ranch, she loved fishing, hunting quail and pheasant, and even went along on the coyote hunts when calves were endangered by the coyotes. While her boys were growing up, they went along on all of the hunting and fishing outings. Susan was a huge supporter of her boys in their rodeo careers.
Susan loved all animals but especially her pet dogs and cats and the horses and cows she cared for while growing up on the ranch and farm.
Following her divorce from Rich, she moved to Iola for a time. She then moved to Larose, La., shen she got a job with Gulf Fleet on the off-shore oil rigs, which enabled her to work in supporting projects for companies engaging in oil and gas exploration and production. While working there for several years, she met her husband, Jimmy Wilkinson, who was the chief engineer in the off-shore vessels. They were married on Aug. 4, 2007. They moved back to Kansas and bought their farm near Richmond. They had a happy life together until his untimely death on Aug. 28, 2014.
Her son and his family then lived out at the farm with her for a time. She continued to be her grandchildren’s after-school caretaker every day until she became too ill to do so. They remained the light of her life.
Susan is survived by two sons, Phillip Michael Melvin and wife Carissa, Richmond, and William “Billy” Coffman, Eureka; a grandson, Garrison Melvin; two granddaughters, Kaylee May Melvin and Bailey Melvin; a brother, Michael “Mick” Blane Melvin and wife Mona, Iola; by three sisters, Julie Jo Melvin Price Fox, Vassar, Carol Ann Smith Dodd Johnson Jones, Williamsburg, and Kathy Rae Daugharthy Johnston Arnold, Gardner; by several cousins including Debbie Livingston Ball, Ottawa, and Julie Kay Veix Alexander Page, Ottawa; and by many nieces and nephews and her sons’ father, Richard Coffman.
Susan was preceded in death by her husband, Jimmie Wilkinson; by her father, Master Sgt. Ernest Ned Melvin; her mother, Osa Lenore Veix Melvin Howard; by her stepfather, Donald “Bus” M. Howard; by her maternal grandparents, Silas Adem Veix and Edith Catherine Caleb Veix; by her paternal grandparents, Ernest Ephriam Posey Melvin and Sarah Agnes Dudley Melvin; by her cousin, Randy Joe Livingston; and several uncles and aunts.
Susie was strong-willed but always kind and welcoming. Her door was always open and the coffee was always on. She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her, but will live on in their memories and hearts.
Cremation has taken place with Dengel and Sons Mortuary in Ottawa.
With all other family, Susan was a proud member of the Munsee Delaware Tribe with her great-great-grandfather, Ignatious Caleb being the last tribal chief. Graveside services will be held at a later date in the Caleb-Veix family plot in the Munsee Indian Cemetery in the Chippewa Hills outside Ottawa.
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