Ursula "Sue" Stauff October 24, 1920 - January 7, 2011

Ursula "Sue" Stauff, 90, died of natural causes at her home in Ashland on January 7. She passed on in the loving care of her daughter, Linda, who is a nurse midwife.

Born at home near Mantachie, Mississippi on October 24, 1920, Sue grew up on her parents' cotton farm, then went on to attend Mississippi State College for Women. Sue graduated in 1943 with a bachelor's degree in home economics, and moved to Minnesota to work for the USDA, inspecting food.

Within a year she moved to the West Coast, continuing to work for the USDA in canneries in California and Oregon.

She was employed in Sunnyvale, California when she met her future husband, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Scott Stauff (Bob) in the postwar years. They were married in Sausalito, California in 1947, and moved to Portland to begin their family.

They had two children and lived in Garden Home for 30 years. Sue loved homemaking, singing, sewing, hosting, golf and hiking. She was an active member of the Multnomah Athletic Club Mello-Macs, and she enjoyed a stint as a Realtor when her children were in their teens. She was an amazing mother, wife and friend, and had a wonderful presence as a host in the Portland lumber business arena.

Sue and Bob retired in Sisters for 17 years, living in a home they built on a secluded rim-rock overlooking an untamed landscape. They then moved to Ashland in their later years, to be close to family.

Sue was preceded in death by her husband, Bob, (2006) and her three brothers. She is survived by her sister Patricia Martinez of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; her two children, David Allen Stauff (Raelyn) of Salem, and Linda Stauff Lieberman (Paul) of Ashland; five grandchildren, Kalima, Camas, and Adinah Lieberman, Tyler and Kaley Stauff; and one great-granddaughter, January Jewel Johnson. She was dearly loved, and her light and spirit live on.