Biography: Susan L. Day, age 68, passed away on October 5, 2024, in hospice surrounded by the love of her family.  Less than one month after her diagnosis with cancer, her rapid decline was a surprise to all.

She was born September 20, 1956 in Columbia, Missouri, to Edward Ray Day and Ellen White Day. She lived most of her childhood in Elon and Greensboro, North Carolina. She moved to California by herself where she finished high school in Orange County, California, at El Modena High School in 1974.

As a young woman, Susan served in the U.S. Air Force as a weather observer in Chanute, Illinois, from 1975 to 1980. She then attended Eastern Carolina University on the G.I Bill and earned a degree in Environmental Science in 1983.

During that period, she met her husband Skip (Earl H.) Clemmons before they moved to Palo Alto, CA, where she worked as a monoclonal antibody diagnostics researcher at SyVa Company, one of the earliest commercial biotech companies, while Skip attended Stanford GSB.

In 1985, she and Skip moved to Little Rock where she worked in a biology lab at UAMS, “cutting up rats” before joining Merck & Co. to become one of the first female drug reps on Merck’s hospital sales force. She and her partner Fran Holmes turned Central Arkansas into the leading territory for Merck’s portfolio of hospital-based antibiotics and other injectable products.   She retired from Merck in 1997 to become a full time mother to her two boys, Patrick (1990) and Colin (1995).

In Little Rock, she was a frequent presence in the Scouting programs at St. Paul Methodist Church, where Patrick and Colin rose through the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturing programs of “Troop 30” to earn their Eagle Scout awards.   She was also an active parent at The Cathedral School and Episcopal Collegiate School.

Until her last month, she swam daily at the Little Rock Racquet Club, even when they did away with the bubble during the Winter seasons during and after Covid.

She has loved the arts in all forms, and her good eye for and strong interest in painting and sculpture led her to become a docent at the Arkansas Art Center in 2012, and, in recent years, she had been the lead docent and an ex officio board member at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, and continued to lead tours there through August 2024.

Over the years, she has been a caregiver to us all in the family, handling the care of Skip’s parents, and providing love and support to her entire system of family and friends.  She has been a “supermom” for us all, including Colin and Patrick friends, treating anyone who needed support with all the love and care she would give her own family.

She is survived by her husband Skip; her son Colin of Oakland, California; her (incipient) daughter-in-law, Hannah Leigh Thompson of Whitefish Bay, WI; her siblings, Evelyn Day (Devon) of Greensboro, Patrick Day (Jane) of Carrboro, and Russell Day (Nancy Alex) of Carrboro; her nieces Jolie Day (Deep) of Memphis, Tennessee, and Olivia Day of Rochester, New York. She is preceded in death by her late son, Patrick Andrew Clemmons, and her parents, Ellen and Edward Day.

Visitation will be held at Ruebel Funeral Home, 6313 West Markham St., Little Rock on Thursday, October 10, 2024, from 5 to 7 p.m.   A memorial service will be held at Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts on Friday, October 11, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., with a reception to follow soon thereafter.   Her burial will be at 12:30 at the Columbarium at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church, 1003 N. Tyler St., Little Rock.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. 9th St., Little Rock 72202, or BSA Troop 30 at St. Paul United Methodist Church, 2223 Durwood, Little Rock AR 72207. Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com