Obituary of Helen Sue Kittrell

Helen Sue Kittrell passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her children on Thursday, September 8, 2022, in Yuba City, CA. She was born on November 2, 1932, in rural Mississippi, to Otis and Blanche Dunaway. Sue was the only daughter, sharing her parents with 5 brothers: Gerald, Carl, Theron, Dewey, and Harold. They were quite a handful when all gathered in the same place! After High School, Sue came west by train to attend nursing school in Oakland, California, at the Highland Hospital Nurse Training Center. It was then she met the love of her life, Bill Kittrell, who was in the Navy and stationed in the Bay Area. They married in November of 1952 and spent their lives loving and supporting each other. In 1955, Sue was employed at the Yuba County Hospital and served the community during the 1955 Flood. This began a life of nursing. She maintained her nursing license until the age of 87. In 1958, she worked as the Head Nurse at the Veteran Affairs (VA) Hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina, while supporting Bill through Wake Forest School of Medicine. She did the same by working at the San Francisco VA Hospital while Bill was in medical residency at San Francisco General Hospital. In 1970, Sue and Bill moved their family to Yuba City, where Bill set up a medical practice with the Third Street Clinic in Marysville. It was at this point Sue became a stay-at-home mom and an active member of the PTA and various community projects. She and Bill would spend family time camping and jeeping in the wilderness with their life-long friends, Gene and Shirley Scheel and Jim and Hortense Givens. After Bill passed away in 1987, and with her children grown, Sue volunteered as an American Red Cross Nurse, serving local residents during times of need, and traveling the globe responding to numerous major disasters. Sue was a force of nature, driven towards the care of others and being of service. She was full of love and compassion, and she loved to laugh. She was a person that, when needed, stated the things that needed to be said. Sue leaves behind her son, Dorian Kittrell (Ron Taylor); and daughter, Alicia Kittrell (Mark Grabowski); and her dearest friend, (sister) Shirley Scheel. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bill; her parents, Otis and Blanche; her brothers, Gerald and Carl; and her dear friend, Marge Banks, with whom she served alongside with in the Red Cross (and her partner in crime at the casinos they loved to visit). While we are heartbroken not having her in our daily lives, we take great comfort and pride in her life that was so well lived, full of adventure and love. She asked that in leu of flowers to please make a donation in her name to a charity or cause that helps others. A celebration of her life will take place at a future date.