Susan Estelle Kelso, PhD
April 23, 1941- April 23, 2025
Two serious surgeries in 1959 and 1960, gave Susan an early understanding of pain and shaped her conscious living. The years were diverse and not what she imagined or planned for when she graduated Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio in 1959.
The continuity was 64 years with her daughter, Bonnie Cullum, 42 years with husband Peter Dart, and more than a half century of philosophical inquiry and learning.
Susan was a pregnant freshman at San Antonio College and sang at The Landing on the Riverwalk. She graduated from Trinity University and earned a PhD from the University of Kansas. Her 'flower child' days were for civil rights, peace, feminism, zero population growth, and tree hugging! For six years, she directed and facilitated Volunteers in Court for Juvenile Court, Douglas County, Kansas.
Susan taught most of her life, performed on stage and designed costumes and props for Kansas Repertory Company, and acted in many industrial and educational films. At McNeese State University, she taught theatre, women's studies, and communication, directed plays, designed costumes and makeup, and served as full professor and department head. She adjudicated plays at regional festivals for college and community theatres.
Susan and Peter rode out Hurricane Rita and ten days of self sufficiency. They sailed the intercoastal waterway from Lake Charles to South Padre in a small boat and had a reefed sail ripped off by a Corpus Christi Bay water spout. Other notable memories: train rides on the Orient Express and through Scandinavia; hot air balloon over the Napa vineyard; helicopters over Kauai, the Big Island, and New Zealand glaciers; scuba dives in the Bahamas; a car trip through Israel; a visit to Loch Ness (no monster) and to Kelso, Scotland; experiencing the magic and mystery of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley.
Theatre is interconnected with her loved ones. Peter and Susan began their fascination with each other onstage. They team-taught Acting for Camera at McNeese; he created props for shows she directed; they appeared onstage together in productions like The Four Poster, Little Mary Sunshine, and Into the Woods. Bonnie and Susan appeared onstage together at the University of Kansas. Bonnie directed her in A Dream Play and Beckett's Rockaby and directed and produced her scripts at The VORTEX.
For many friends, students, and colleagues, Susan was a crone, a wise woman–quite different from her glamorous high school image or her first semester of graduate school when her Kansas professor advised her 'to go back to San Antonio where you belong and be a housewife.' She was a yogini and Eastern philosopher. She celebrated Earth Day and nature meditations. Yoga kept her mind, spirit, and body flexible.
She loved her Louisiana River Haven acre and Horseshoe Bay hilltop where she lived with her dogs and Peter, her marvelous caregiver, lover, and acre manager. She cultivated wildlife habitats with many creatures–winged, legged, and slitherers. The past two years, she lived in Austin to be close to Bonnie and Chad. She died at home at dawn on her 84th birthday with her belovéd dogs, Zorro and Lil' Bear, and her Kat by her side.
Susan is survived by children Bonnie Cullum (Chad Salvata); David Dart (Sarah Woods), Stephanie Dart, Stephen Dart. Grandchildren Michael Dart, Jessica Russell (Daniel), Livia Gotsman (Evan Questad), and Levi Gotsman (Tatiana Cantu). Siblings Winchechester Kelso (Glynn), Kelly Van Nostrand (Dominique), and Scott Marshall, and many cherished first cousins, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her husband, Peter Dart; parents, Ruby Youngblood Marshall (Dan Marshall) and Col. Winchester Kelso III (Col. Mary Kelso); and brother, Kent Marshall.
She was an avid supporter of the arts. Gifts in her honor may be made to her favorite (Bonnie's) non-profit theatre, The VORTEX in Austin. vortexrep.org.
There will be a memorial for Susan Kelso on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 3 p.m. (Butterfly Bar opens at 2 p.m.) at The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722.
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