Susan Marjorie Browder, 73, of Federal Way, WA passed away on February 13, 2026, from pancreatic cancer. She is survived by Joe, her husband of 50 years, son Will Monnin-Browder (Liz) of Arlington, MA, and daughter Betsy Browder (Brandon Cosce) of Seattle, WA. She is also survived by four grandchildren, Avery, Oliver, Maddie, and Collins, and her brother, Richard Marcyes, Jr. (Kevin Ann) of Dallas, TX. She was predeceased by her parents, Richard Marcyes and Marjorie Collins Marcyes.
Sue was born in New York City on July 26, 1952. She spent her early years in Port Washington, NY. At age 12, Sue and her family moved to New Hartford, NY, where she graduated from high school in 1970.
Sue started her undergraduate education at Skidmore College. After two years at Skidmore, she transferred to Duke University, graduating in 1974 with a BA degree. It was at Duke where she met Joe. They were married in the Duke Chapel on August 16, 1975. Last summer, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Sue supported Joe’s career, which took the family to a number of different locations: Greenville-Spartanburg, SC; Reading, PA; Lausanne, Switzerland; Boca Raton, FL; Nashville, TN; and Seattle, WA. At each location, Sue did a masterful job setting up the household, getting the children assimilated in the local schools and community, and establishing a church home. She also resumed her education, attaining a master’s degree in education from Converse College in 1991. Throughout the family’s moves, she was able to find different teaching positions, usually in special education classrooms. Her favorite teaching assignment was at the Commonwealth American School in Lausanne, where Will and Betsy were enrolled.
Sue held a lifelong love for the coast of Maine, a place rooted in her childhood visits to her grandmother in Bar Harbor. Throughout the years, she delighted in returning there to create a new generation of memories with her own husband, children, and grandchildren.
As a mother and a devoted “Nana,” Sue was adored for her kindness, her easygoing nature, and her capacity to love unconditionally. Yet, beneath that gentle spirit, she was a “tough cookie”—a strength clearly evidenced by the grace and resilience she showed during her battle with cancer.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday, February 21, at 11:00 AM at Marine View Presbyterian Church, 8469 East Side Dr NE, Tacoma, WA 98422. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial gifts to Marine View Presbyterian Church in support of Marine View’s Youth and Children’s Ministries, or to Friends of Acadia, PO Box 45, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609.
