Susan Robinson

Susan Robinson, formerly of Taylorville, passed away on Monday, October 26, 2026, at The Carriages of Rochester Senior Living facility. She was born on May 19th, 1946, in Peoria, the daughter of Tom and Joy Kirkpatrick. She married Bruce Robinson of Stonington on December 27, 1966, in Peoria. Sue graduated from Central High School in Peoria and attended the University of Illinois where she graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences. At the U of I, Sue was a member of the 4H House sorority and met the love of her life Bruce at a social exchange with FarmHouse Fraternity.

After Bruce returned from Vietnam to take over the family farm, Sue began her teaching career in the Edinburg school system teaching 5th grade. She took a break from teaching to start a family, before returning to teaching first as a substitute teacher and eventually full time at the Taylorville Jr. High both as a math teacher and as a track coach.

Coaching track came very naturally to Sue as she could be found rain or shine running and biking along the country roads around Stonington and Taylorville. She loved to participate in 5k & 10k races in the area, continually challenging herself against her own personal best times.

If there was anything that Sue was more passionate about than running, it would be painting. She loved to create watercolor paintings of flowers and birds and participate in craft fairs around the area. She’d paint on any medium, whether it was canvas, post cards, or even wine glasses, and she combined both her love of painting with her knowledge of flowers in a book titled, “Roadside Wildflowers of Christian County” a collection of her flower paintings and her horticulture knowledge. While that was her only published work it was far from the only book she wrote. Sue helped a number of people, many from her church, collect their life stories into biography form to hand down to their own families as a way to preserve their memories for their descendants.

Sue and Bruce loved boating and could be found waterskiing with family and friends on Taylorville Lake on summer weekends before moving to bigger waters on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers once the kids were out of the house. Eventually trading sea legs for dry ground, they spent several years traveling the country in an RV where Sue would always be on the lookout for new flowers to paint and new friends to make.

Sue was preceded in death by her husband Bruce, as well as her parents and two brothers Tom and Bruce Kirkpatrick, and is survived by her sons: Roy Robinson of Stonington and Mike Robinson (Nicole) of Bolingbrook; grandchildren: Brooke Robinson and Parker Robinson; sibling: Ken Kirkpatrick of Denver, Colorado as well as several nieces and nephews. Sue was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Taylorville, and you can still find the butterfly garden she and others planted out front.

Sue will be cremated, and no services are planned at this time. Memorial donations in her memory may be made in her name to CurePSP (www.psp.org) directly. McClure Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Taylorville is assisting the family with arrangements. Memories of Sue, or condolences to the family, may be shared online at www.mcclurefuneralhome.com.