Susan Fuellenbach Buys
Heber City, Utah – Susan Fuellenbach Buys, 79, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and friend passed away at home on November 4, 2024 after a brief, valiant battle with pancreatic cancer, surrounded by her loving family, and the love of her life, Dick Buys. Sue was born on June 14, 1945, in Richfield, Utah, to Marge and Norm Fuellenbach. She married Richard M. Buys on November 4, 1965, in Elko, Nevada.
Growing up in Richfield, Sue loved riding bikes over the “dusty trails”, climbing in the red hills, and living in the idyllic embodiment of small-town Utah. She attended Richfield High School where she was involved in theatre, loved sock-hops, and served as “Willy the Wildcat,” the school mascot her senior year.
Following high school, Sue attended the University of Utah, where she was a member of Tri Delta sorority. While at the U, she met Dick Buys. One bright November day, Sue was studying for finals and Dick called to see if she wanted to take a break and go for a quick cup of coffee. No one is quite sure how it happened – a joke, a dare, a lark, or simply true love – but what started out over coffee at a Dees Restaurant led to the two of them in Elko, Nevada where they were married by a Justice of the Peace.
In a time where it was customary to ask the prospective bride’s father for permission, Dick, upon returning from Elko, was scared to death to meet his new father-in-law, Norm, but they immediately became fast friends. It was Norm who got them interested in the weekly newspaper business and on January 1, 1974, Sue and Dick became owners and publishers of The Wasatch Wave, the Summit County Bee, the Payson Chronicle, and the Park Record.
When Sue and Dick first moved to Heber to take over the newspapers, daughter Laurie was almost seven and Sue was about three months pregnant with Kari and they lived in a cab-over camper behind the Wave offices. The morning Sue woke up in the camper and found the dog’s water dish, which was inside the camper, frozen, she said it was time they moved into a house. Sue and Dick fell in love with Heber Valley and they worked side by side to build the Wave, the other newspapers, and a printing business, Wave Publishing. Sue and Dick sold the Park Record and the Payson Chronicle, but the printing arm and the Wasatch Wave are operating and being published through Wave Publishing by their daughters and son-in-law. (The ink runs in their blood.)
Sue was a founding member of Friends of the Wasatch County Children’s Justice Center, the fund-raising arm of the Center, and was instrumental in raising funds for building the present WCCJC.
Sue and Dick loved boating at Lake Powell, snowmobiling at Fishlake at Sue’s family’s cabin and in the area around Heber, and spending time at their cabin in Timber Lakes.
Sue is survived by her husband, Dick, daughter Laurie Buys Wynn and her girls Erin and Ryann; daughter Kari Buys (Paul) McFee and their kids Shannon and Connor; sister Jan (Kraig) Patterson and their boys Devin and Tyler; and several nieces and nephews.
Sue was preceded in death by her parents, Marge and Norm Fuellenbach, brothers Kent and Mark Fuellenbach, a special cousin Judy Stout, and son-in-law Joseph (Joe) Wynn.
For information on services for Sue, please see the online obituary at www.probstfamilyfunerals.com . Interment will be at the Heber Cemetery. A celebration of Sue’s life will be held in the spring.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Sue’s name at the Friends of Wasatch County Children’s Justice Center, PO Box 128, Heber City, UT 84032 or at Timpanogos Valley Theatre, 90 N 100 W, Heber City, UT 84032.