Susan Georgine Whitleff was born July 13, 1960 in Batesville, Mississippi to George and Helen Whitleff. George was a Deputy Sheriff for Panola County and Helen was a homemaker. Susan was an only child who always wished she had an older brother as most of her friends had. But she went through childhood as an only child, comforted in the fact that her parents loved her very much.

She had a normal childhood in a loving family until her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when Susan was ten. Helena and George tried very hard to provide a normal routine for their daughter, but as the cancer progressed it became harder for Helen to care for her husband and daughter.

Susan wanted to spend as much time being with and helping her mother as she could manage. She would hurry home from school to be with her mother, who called her "a bundle of sunshine." Susan's schoolmates latched onto the nickname and it stuck. Susan would have spent all her out-of-school time caring for her mother, but her parents insisted that she have as normal a childhood as possible. They insisted she keep up her time with her friends and on her schoolwork. This was not difficult for Susan because schoolwork had always been easy for her and she reveled in doing well. She approached her mother's illness as she did any challenge -- head-on.

Helen died when Susan was 12 years old. George, Helen and Susan had prepared as much as possible for the impending death, but the following year was naturally very difficult for father and child. They supported each other and George stayed close to his daughter by maintaining an interest in her schooling and her friends through her remaining middle and high school years. This was not always easy with his job schedule, but he did his best and Susan's development did not suffer.

"Sunny" had always dreamed of attending the University of Mississippi. In her junior year of high school, when her friends were so engrossed in dates and boys, Susan was thinking about her lifelong dream of going to the University of Mississippi in Oxford. She had visited the campus once with her parents when she was just a little girl and had fallen in love with the campus and the town. When she first told her father of her dream, he began saving and even through his wife's illness and death, he put money aside for Susan to attend Ole Miss. George and Susan worked out a plan that he would pay for her tuition, books and some living expenses. With the help from her father, student loans and working part-time, she felt sure she could swing it. She wasn't clear on what she wanted to do in her life except begin college. She was sure that destiny would lead her to her future if she could be at Ole Miss. She would decide on her major after she'd gotten a taste of college and completed some of her required courses, she thought.

Then in the summer of '78, while she was making plans to move to Oxford, disaster struck. George was killed on the job in a collision with a drunk driver. Feeling very alone and that there was nothing left for her in Batesville, she decided to move to Oxford, and work a year to save enough money to go to the University.

She found a job at the Square Books store. The owners loved her because, even in the aftermath and sorrow of losing her father, she was always pleasant with the customers and brightened everyone's day. Return customers always looked for her to wait on them. Unlike some of the student part-time workers, she took the job seriously and soon knew her way around and the stock very well. She read whenever possible so she would be conversant with the customers.

Late in the summer, a young man came in to the store and was instantly attracted to Susan's wonderful smile and pleasant manner. Gerard Dubois always described his first encounter with her as "love at first sight." They began dating and, in fact, became almost inseparable.

Gerard was unlike anyone Susan had ever met. The son of a well-to-do family with cotton holdings in Greenville, he was confident, considerate, and wonderful to be with. They became constant companions until their wedding six months later.

Susan never regretted giving up her dream of college. She felt she had been swept away by her Prince Charming to live happily ever after. They settled down in Oxford, which they both loved, and he tended to his family's business interests by traveling often to Greenville. They had a wonderful time together and were very happy and content, especially after the birth of their gorgeous baby girl, Barbara, in August 1980.

Susan looked forward to spending her life as Gerard's wife and the mother of his children, then in 1982 she was widowed when Gerard was killed in an auto accident when rushing home from Greenville to his little family in Oxford.

Susan was a widow at 22 years old and once again had to face the heartbreak of a loved one's death. She felt as though her heart would break, but managed to survive by concentrating on her darling Barbara. She approached her job of single parenthood as she did everything -- with a single-minded focus that could sometimes be smothering to Barbara. But the child seemed to thrive and maintain a sense of balance.

Susan worked two jobs, leveraged the insurance money, and mortgaged and re-mortgaged their home in order to pay for coaching, lessons, clothing, and all the other necessary items to make her daughter successful on the pageant circuit. She told others that she would "do what it took" to see that her daughter had opportunities that she did not have.

She maintained that attitude even when money got tight. When she could no longer afford "big name" coaches, she found Marty "Slim" Rutgers and hired him to prepare Barbara. The two worked together for years until, when Barbara was around age 14, Rutgers abruptly stopped coaching her. Thereafter, he was simply named as a "consultant" in Barbara's press releases and applications.

Susan had few close friends, but those she did have spoke of her devotion to Barbara's success. They also spoke of Susan's fear that she would be left alone and penniless. In time, it seemed that Barbara's success meant Susan's survival.

Susan never remarried and, after some disastrous attempts by friends to match-make, had backed away from dating. At 43, she was still attractive and vibrant. Her wonderful sunny smile had brightened many lives, but now was dimmed by the tragic death of her dear Barbara -- and once again she was alone.