Suzanne Marin Blee

Suzanne Blee, 65, of Highland, CA passed away on November 15, 2024, holding hands with her loving husband, Robert in the Redlands Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit. She had been surrounded by children, family and friends in the hours and days leading up to her passing. She was born Suzanne Marin Barnes in Marin County, CA on March 20, 1959, on the first day of Spring. She was the first of six children born to Donald and Nancy Barnes. Her family moved to Seattle, Washington in 1961, where Suzanne enjoyed trips to the World’s Fair, and regular hiking and camping excursions out into the natural beauty surrounding the area. In 1967, the family moved to Webster Groves, a suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri. Here Suzanne’s artistic talents flourished from a young age in painting, sewing, cooking and story-telling. She refined her interest in solar energy and the galaxies, saving diligently in order to purchase a high-end telescope, establishing her ambitions in Physics. Here she attended Bristol Elementary School, Steager Junior High School, and Webster Groves High School graduating in 1977. She was a National Merit Scholar in Math and English. She attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Physics. Her initial career started with her own business designing and building medical instruments to help hospital patients with muscular issues in their hands and feet. After about 5 years of running her business, she accepted a position at TRW in San Bernardino, CA, where she did systems engineering work in Advanced Defense Systems for the US Air Force, which involved work presented to government personnel at the Pentagon. TRW is where Suzanne met her husband-to-be, Robert Blee, in 1989. Robert, an electrical engineer, had the privilege of working on one of Suzanne's projects, which gave them the chance to get acquainted and gave Robert the chance to ask Suzanne out for a date. Robert proposed to Suzanne near the "Kindergarten Cop" movie set in Cannon Beach, OR. They married on April 27, 1991 in a Presbyterian chapel in Riverside, CA. Suzanne's remaining 25 years of her career was spent working for Esri in Redlands, CA, as an Application Software Developer. She was described by many as an excellent programmer. She developed application software for the ArcGIS platform and contributed to its modern interface that allows geo database designers to create and manage schema edits. Suzanne had a passion for the environment, was a humanitarian, and was a naturalist. She introduced organic gardening and composting to her family before "organic" became a household word. She had an interest in environmental architecture and ecovillages. One of the last family vacations included staying in and volunteering to work the gardens at the Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland. Other gardens she volunteered at were in Yosemite Valley, and at the Grove High School farm. Her favorite quote was “Be the change you wish to see in the world” from Mahatma Gandhi. She enjoyed reading many books to learn about many ideas. Suzanne instilled in her family the goodness of eating healthy, unprocessed organic foods. She tried her best to avoid products and processes that could cause cancer. This is what made her plight with cancer ironic and sad. Suzanne was diagnosed with stage IVB endometrial cancer in June 2024, after symptoms appeared in May 2024. She received chemotherapy and immunotherapy for 4 months. Unfortunately, the treatment was not successful. Before she could try a different cancer treatment, multiple organs began to fail due to the impact of the aggressive cancer.Even with the might of modern day medicine keeping her alive, she could never recover. Suzanne is survived by her husband Robert, their son Rowyn, and their daughter Skye.

Suzanne Marin Blee

March 20, 1959 - November 15, 2024