Susan Marie Steffen

Susan Marie (Peaks) Steffen Susan Marie Steffen passed away at her home in Minneapolis on November 4, 2025. She was 80. A memorial service is planned for May 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM at Mount Olivet Church in Minneapolis. Born on January 12, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois to Lyman and Elizabeth Peaks, her birth certificate initially read "baby girl" while her father served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. Susan spent her childhood between Chicago's northern suburbs and a lake cabin in Chisholm, Minnesota. When she was 16, her family moved to southern Illinois where her father worked in farm insurance. Susan was a bright student, graduating from University High School in Normal, Illinois, and later earning her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Carleton College in 1966, where she met her future husband, John K. Steffen. From 1966-1967, Susan earned a Master's degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, where she developed lifelong friendships and an enduring affinity for French culture, food, and language. Susan's dedication to volunteering dates back to these early years, when both she and her husband John served in the Peace Corps from 1968-1969, teaching English in a rural city in South Korea of one million people and no indoor plumbing at the time. In 1969, the couple moved to Minneapolis, where Susan worked for the Star Tribune newspaper handling statistical analytics for the subscriptions department while John attended law school. She later took a senior position as a software developer and international trainer at the firm Control Data, achieving a remarkable career at a time when relatively few women worked in the field. She later developed a passion for education, earning a teaching degree from Hamline University and leading classes on information technology, mathematics (including in French), and French language to elementary and high school students at several schools in the greater Twin Cities area. She also taught classes at an English as a Second Language (ESL) local high school. Outside of work, Susan lived an active and engaged life. A graceful athlete, she was an accomplished golfer and a member of the University of Minnesota Women's Alumni Golf Association. She and John played frequently at Headwaters Country Club, competing in a variety of tournaments. She enjoyed skiing, swimming, and cycling, regularly participating in the Headwaters 100 bike ride, and even in her mid-60s could be found waterskiing around Big Sand Lake with no hands and only her foot in the towrope. Beginning in the 1980s, Susan and her family spent their summers at their cherished lake cabin, where they developed a tight-knit network of close friends who became like second family. Susan is survived by her brother John, his wife Lynn and their daughter, Irene; her daughter, Elizabeth Steffen Scheler and her husband, David, and their children, Jack and Emily; her daughter, Christine Steffen and her partner, Matthew Keith, and their son, Peter.

Tributes

Susan Marie Steffen

January 12, 1945 - November 4, 2025

Tributes

Susan Marie Steffen

January 12, 1945 - November 4, 2025

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