Suzy Vallereux Knipp went home to be with the Lord on Monday evening, October 29, 2007. Born to Robert and Margaret Vallereux in Pasadena, California, on April 15, 1938, she was the oldest of three girls. She graduated in 1956 from South Pasadena High School and immediately went to work for the Bell Telephone Company. She met and married the love of her life, Billy Ray Knipp of Kingsville, Texas. During their marriage they lived in Texas and California and had two daughters.

Suzy came to the Springfield, Missouri area in 1995 and went to work for Springfield Community Hospital. She continued to work there when it became Walnut Lawn and she retired from the Cox Health Systems. She was devoted to her daughters and grandchildren. She loved following her grandson's major league baseball career with the Padres and enjoyed knitting, watching Agatha Christie movies and playing with her cat.

Suzy was preceded in death by her loving husband, Bill; and her parents. She is survived by her daughter Kim Germano and children, Lisa, Grace and Justin Germano, all of Claremont, California; daughter Liz Mathis and husband, Chris of Altadena, California; sister Jeanne Lee and husband, Ben, of Springfield, Missouri, and family, niece Connie Beasley and husband, Jeff and their daughter, Jordan, of Nixa, Mo., nephew Rick Hoover of Las Vegas, Nevada, and his sons, Brandon and Mark Hoover of Springfield, Mo.; niece Kathy Borg and husband, Ken, Anaheim, Calif.; sister Caryl Vallereux of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and her daughters, Debbie Downs of the State of Washington and Cherie of Green Forest, Ark.; and her dearest friends, Linda "Walker" Newberry, Sparta, Mo., and Adrienne Casson of Whittier, Calif. Suzy has been cremated and sent home to her daughters to be buried next to her husband, Billy Ray, in California.

Springfield News, November 1, 2007