June 30, 1945 – Dec. 10, 2024
Miss Roberta (Bert) Lucille Suddith, RN, 79, of Fort Wayne passed away at Lutheran Hospital, Tuesday Dec. 10, 2024.
Roberta was born June 30, 1945, to Beaman and Effie Borden Suddith at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. She grew up on a farm in Richland Center Township near Rochester, where she shared her childhood with her older sister, Marcia, and her twin brother, “Bob.” As children, she and Bob started a business of growing rabbits to sell. She graduated from Richland Center High School in 1963. While growing up, she was a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Rochester and continued through life's journey as a devout Lutheran and a woman of strong faith.
Bert pursued her dream to become a nurse and became a third-generation nurse following her grandmother, mother and older sister, Marcia. She graduated from Lutheran School of Nursing in 1966. Roberta initiated her career on a Med/Surg unit. Later she played an instrumental role in the opening of the first Coronary Care Unit at Lutheran Hospital. She taught EKG rhythm strips interpretation to nursing staff, physicians, and paramedics for over 40 years. With great passion and a servant's heart to help her patients Roberta lived and breathed cardiology. She taught all levels of CPR and was on the state board of directors for American Heart Association. Roberta became an audiovisual specialist to help provide another means to get information to new personnel. She provided many continuing education courses through Lutheran Hospital, and the University of Saint Frances. She retired from Ivy Tech Community College where she taught Qualified Medication Aides. In continuing to meet the needs of her students, she co-authored a CNA and QMA Textbook and Workbook. She would like to thank all the people she has had the opportunity to teach over so many years.
Roberta continued her education with a bachelor’s degree from St. Francis College, Fort Wayne, in 1987 and a master’s degree from Walden University in 1999. Roberta was known and well-respected for her passion for teaching and helping others learn.
Left to cherish Roberta's memory are her twin brother and wife, Dr. Robert L. Suddith and Dr. Kathy Savage, Lawrence, Kan.; nephew and wife, Andrew Suddith and Cindy Rolli, Lawrence, Kan.; great-nephew, Kelvin Suddith, Portland, Ore.; dear friends Charlene and Charles Mantock and their children Douglas (Samantha) Mantock and David (Beth Ann) Mantock, or Fort Wayne, Megan and Samantha Iemma, of Indianapolis; and many friends, students and patients she befriended during life's journey.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Beaman and Effie Suddith; uncle and aunt, Charlie and Maleta Borden; cousin, Don Borden; niece, Beth Wenrick; nephew, Michael Wenrick; and her special friend, Janet Iemma.
A celebration of life for Roberta L. "Bert" Suddith RN is at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, at Grace Point Church of the Nazarene, 8611 Mayhew Road, Fort Wayne. Her family will receive friends an hour prior to services. Rev. Dr. Victor Kolch will officiate.
Visitation is at 1 p.m. at the Good Family Funeral Home, 1200 W. 18th St., Rochester. At 2 p.m., the Nursing Honor Guard of Midwestern Indiana will conduct a Nightingale Memorial Service. Burial will follow at the Rochester IOOF Cemetery, where Roberta will be laid to eternal rest. Rev. Curtis May will preside. Preferred memorials may be made to Ivy Tech Community College, Paramedic Program Fort Wayne. Online expressions of sympathy may be made to her family at www.goodfamilyfh.com.
Roberta’s family would like to express deep gratitude to Roberta’s friend, Charlene Mantock, for her kindness and thoughtfulness caring for and assisting Roberta in her later years.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Roberta’s memory to Ivy Tech Paramedic program at https://engage.ivytech.edu/s/giving.
