Obituary of Susan Kirkland

Susan Brooks Kirkland of Sugar Mountain, North Carolina, passed away on January 30, 2020. She was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on February 2, 1939, to Clyde Kenneth Brooks and Rachel Fowler Brooks. Having grown up in Greensboro, North Carolina, she graduated from Greensboro Senior High School in 1957. Susan is survived by her sons, Brooks Willard Kirkland, his wife Penni, and Daniel (Danny) Fowler Kirkland, his wife Jackie, and two grandchildren she adored, Molly Elizabeth and Willard (Will) Campbell. In the last years of her life Susan found her true love, Joe Upchurch. The two were inseparable. What happiness they found in each other! In 1961, Susan graduated from Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was elected a permanent class president and organized many events for her class. She was employed by the State of Georgia in Savannah working with and designing programs for Juvenile Delinquents. After retirement, she heard the mountains calling and had to go. She started Maw's Produce in Foscoe in the spring of 1994 where she made many lifelong friends and became a local celebrity until her passing. She was honored in 2011 by the donation to Queens College of a $50,000 endowed Brooks Family Scholarship. Susan was elected to serve on the Board of Grandfather Home for Children. As a lifetime member of the Presbyterian Church she served as a deacon and an elder. A Celebration of the Resurrection in memory of her life will be held at Arbor Dale Presbyterian Church, 6619 Hickory Nut Gap Road, Banner Elk, NC 28604 on February 15, 2020, at 3 pm. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Brooks Family Scholarship Fund at Queens College, 1900 Selwyn Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28274 or to Grandfather Home for Children, P.O. Box 98, Banner Elk, NC, 28604. Online condolences may be shared with the Kirkland family at the website www.austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com. Austin & Barnes Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Kirkland family.