Suzanne "Suzie" Marie Easter

Suzanne Marie Easter, age 80, of Phoenix, Arizona passed away peacefully on Friday, June 6, 2025. She was born January 23, 1945 to the late JT and Betty Richardson, in Chicago, Illinois.

After growing up in Chicago, and Branson, Missouri, Suzie graduated high school in Fredericksburg, Texas in 1963, then attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, studying Business. She met and married her husband, Gary Easter, a funeral director, while she was working at the County Morgue in Houston, Texas, in 1966. They had 3 children in Houston, then moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1973.

In Phoenix, Suzie worked in medical offices, doing coding, billing, and collections. At the urging of several of the physician clients in her office, in 1984, she set out on her own and founded East and Associates, a medical billing service. Gary left the casket sales industry to work with her in the new business. She excelled at her work and the office was extremely successful, until they sold it and retired in 2004. Suzie made many lifelong friends while operating the business, including employees and physician clients.

Suzie was always a sports fan, and attended nearly all of her children’s practices and games. She was Team Mom for many of her kids’ teams, she painted and decorated the banners that the teams ran through, and was in the stands or audience cheering them on. Her love of sports extended to watching many of the Sun’s games, and she was a huge Diamondbacks fan. Her true love, though, was college sports, beginning with ASU. Once her children entered college, she adopted those teams as well and became a huge University of Arizona and Oklahoma Sooners fan – watching as many baseball, basketball, and football games as she could record. She truly loved watching the College World Series and March Madness every year.

Suzie is survived by her husband of 58 years, Gary Easter, and their three children – Kevin, Lori, and Scott; her grandchildren Bailee, Derek, Jason, Nicole, Aiden, Jimmy, and Tristan. She is also survived by her niece Dawn Richardson Jordan, as well as a host of great friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents, JT and Betty Richardson, and her brother Jerry Richardson.

There will be a graveside service at Phoenix Memorial Park on Thursday, June 11th, at 10:00 am.