Susan Earley

Susan Earley, an incisive attorney with an adventurous spirit and more than a touch of whimsy, died Tuesday in Aurora at the age of 80, surrounded by loved ones. She had lived with Parkinson’s disease for more than a decade, keeping her sense of humor and her love for chocolate and her favorite people even as she lost her words and abilities.

Susan was born October 30, 1945, in Framingham, MA, to John C. Earley, an aeronautical engineer, and Marjorie Devonshire Earley, a mathematician/statistician. She was strong, smart, independent and determined. She earned a B.S. in math from the University of Oklahoma, but decided continuous math study would be too boring. She received a teaching certificate from Tulane and taught high school students for a year. Working for Shell Oil in the late 1960’s, she quickly bumped up against the glass ceiling for women. That experience, plus her general sense of fairness and social justice, led her back to the University of Oklahoma for a law degree. For the next 30 years, she served as an attorney and manager for the Department of Energy’s Western Area Power Administration, specializing in power marketing and Equal Employment Opportunity.

Susan had a wide range of interests, from everything Irish, including Irish dancing and the Irish language, to fiber arts and hang gliding. As a hangglider and paraglider pilot, she spent many weekends seeking the best flying spots in the mountains of Colorado and Utah. Her Lakewood home included Native American and Southwestern art, two looms and mountains of brightly colored yarn. She was active in the Front Range fiber arts community for a long time as a weaver and knitter, and worked at the Recycled Lamb yarn shop after retirement. She tried her hand at numerous other crafts and hobbies, including felting, spinning, papermaking, upholstery, mosaics, jewelry-making, ballroom dancing, baking (especially chocolate!), Sudoku and other word puzzles and hiking.

Perhaps the travel bug bit her while growing up in Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, California, and Oklahoma—later leading her to Louisiana, Virginia, and her beloved Colorado. She explored constantly, from Ireland, Turkey, Mexico, Montenegro and Guatemala to the neighborhoods of Denver and the nearby mountains. When she worked in Golden and later at the Federal Center, she varied her commute, never taking the same route twice in a row.

She passed along many of her interests, as well as her independence, determination, and sense of social justice, to her daughters, grandchildren, and the many other loved ones whose lives she influenced.

She is survived by daughters Maria Lane-Gomez (Enrique) and Linda Lyons-Minor (Bill); grandchildren Sarah, Leia, Najla, Enrique, Ana Elena, Chelsea, Ashley and Will; great-grandchildren Mia, Maisy, Crosby, Eden and Ani; two sisters, Judith Wilner and Genevieve Earley; nephew Shai and nieces Hannah, Julia and Erica; greatnephews Luke and Colton.

She is also survived by many wonderful caregivers at Juniper Village of Aurora, which became home, and where she found, and gave, more love.

Susan’s funeral service will be 2:00pm on Saturday, February 14, 2026 in the Horan and McConaty chapel at 1091 S. Colorado Blvd. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Insight Memory Care Center (https://www.insightmcc.org/get-involved/donate/) or the Rocky Mountain Hanggliding and Paragliding Association (https://www.rmhpa.org/).