Dr. Janet Susan Milton

J. Susan Milton, age 81, of West Columbia SC, passed away on March 15th after a brief illness. Susan was born in 1942 to George A. Milton and Enid K. Milton. She and her older sister Joan were raised in several places in Georgia and North Carolina but considered Winston-Salem to be their hometown. Encouraged by her dad, who was a teacher, Susan learned a fun game called “What is x?” (that is, algebra) at a very young age. Her dad also taught her to play basketball with a beach ball when she was young. Susan’s mother, a talented artist, taught her arts and crafts as well as badminton. Mathematics and sports in general became life-long passions, although the artistic training did not stick. Susan played every sport available to girls while in high school in Winston-Salem: speedball, volleyball, basketball, tennis, and softball. Coached by her mom, she won the North Carolina state youth championship in table tennis several times while in high school. She was an excellent student and math was her favorite subject. Susan double-majored in math and chemistry at Western Carolina University. At Western she made many good friends, was involved in the Canterbury Club (the student organization for Episcopalians), and, of course, got involved in many sports activities. She won five gold cups for victories in women’s intramural athletics and was the most outstanding woman participant in intramural sports for three of her four college years. She did not neglect her studies, however, and graduated with the highest GPA ever achieved at Western at that time. Susan agreed with a college professor’s assessment that she was quite good at chemistry on paper, but was terrible in the laboratory, and so she decided to continue her studies in mathematics rather than chemistry. She obtained a Master’s degree in mathematics from UNC Chapel Hill and a PhD in mathematics from Virginia Tech. At UNC she discovered that she enjoyed teaching, which led to a career as a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Radford University in Virginia, along with summer teaching stints at Virginia Tech. Students loved her introductory statistics course because she taught statistical principles by having the students predict outcomes of shooting dice. At one point she and a colleague who were bored with the available textbooks created a more interesting set of statistics problems to be used as a supplementary text, illustrated with cartoons by Susan’s artist mother. A textbook publisher that reviewed the problem set asked them to write a full textbook. In the end, Susan authored or co-authored five different textbooks on statistics, which were translated into many languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Basque. Susan truly loved her career as a professor and textbook author, but also treasured her free time and summer vacations with friends and family. She loved to camp and hike and went on several extended camping trips around the US with her sister, niece, and nephew. After retirement, she and her beloved sister, Joan Savage, traveled the world together to places such as Hawaii, Alaska, Thailand, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Iceland, the Galapagos Islands, Australia, and Brazil. Between trips Susan played clarinet in a band along with her brother-in-law Tom, sang in the choir at St. John’s Episcopal Church, pampered her beloved dogs, watched many college basketball and football games, volunteered at organizations such as the Red Cross, and complained vociferously about politics. She was very generous with both her time and money if she saw a need that she could address. Suz, as her family called her, leaves behind her niece Deborah and husband Tim, and nephew David and wife Stephanie. Her great nieces/nephews are Noah, Jacob, Aspen, and Mariana. She also leaves behind her adored dog Gracie Rose and sweet cat Molly. She was predeceased by her parents and her sister Joan. The funeral service will be held at 1 o'clock on Saturday, March 23rd at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 2827 Wheat Street, Columbia SC. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Patterpets.org or to The Fresh Start program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church 1300 Pine Street Columbia, SC 29204. https://link.edgepilot.com/s/ac1e861f/-wrjV7bz-UqQ_7fJNRrzoQ?u=https://www.stlukescolasc.org/fresh-start

Tributes

Dr. Janet Susan Milton

June 23, 1942 - March 15, 2024