Sue Hartsell

Our world has lost a kind and loving soul. Mrs. Sue White Hartsell passed on peacefully at home on September 24, 2023. Family and friends filled her last weeks with lots of stories, love and laughter. Sue had battled metastatic melanoma for two years. Her family lovingly cared for her at home during her illness.

Betty Sue White Hartsell was born November 1, 1933. She was the only child of Samuel Brady White and Emma Sudella Frick White of Concord, North Carolina. She had a large, loving and supportive family, as her father had eleven siblings! She grew up attending St. James Lutheran Church of Concord.

Sue was salutatorian of her graduating class at Concord High School in 1951. She enjoyed being a letter girl in the Spiders Marching Band. She made her debut at the Debutante Ball in Raleigh in September of 1953. Sue proudly graduated from Duke University in 1955 after earning her degree in elementary education. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority. Sue made many lifelong friends during these years. She has been a devoted fan of her beloved Blue Devils and a longtime supporter of Iron Dukes.

On August 18, 1956, Sue married her high school and college sweetheart, Luther Thompson Hartsell, III. They were married for 47 years until his passing in 2003. They raised their two children in the Spring Street home that Luther’s grandparents built in 1925.

Sue was an educator and lifelong learner. Early in her career she taught at Selwyn Elementary School in Charlotte, NC, and at Beverly Hills Elementary and Coltrane-Webb Elementary schools in Concord. During the school integration years of the late 1960’s and 70’s, Sue was elected to the Cabarrus County School Board where she served passionately for 16 years as an advocate of public education. Sue later taught English as a Second Language for the Cabarrus County school system. She also worked as a real estate photographer.

Sue supported her church and community throughout her life. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Concord since her marriage. The Presbyterian Women honored her service with an Honorary Life Membership in 2002. She served in Circle 3 for decades. Sue devoted her time and support to many organizations throughout the years including the Cabarrus County Democratic Party, Friends of the Library, Historic Cabarrus, Junior Charity League, Meals on Wheels, and Cabarrus Arts Council as a gallery docent. She loved her time with friends in the Town and Country Garden Club, Annie Allison and Potpourri Book Clubs, several bridge clubs, her astronomy club and Rocky River Trout Unlimited. Sue was a part of a cherished group of friends who affectionately referred to themselves as “The Steering Committee”. They lunched weekly at “The Red Pig” on Corban Avenue for many years, where they planned graduations, showers, weddings, funerals, and all of life’s most important events with much laughter and camaraderie. As friends became widows and widowers, they gathered weekly for dinners at The Bistro and the Cabarrus Country Club.

Sue was devoted to her family and friends. She always made the Hartsell home a warm and welcoming place for all. Her sincere kindness, warmth, smile, curiosity and laugh were inspirational and will be missed tremendously! She loved to share her knowledge and passion for astronomy, bird watching, photography, fly fishing, rock collecting, travel to our National Parks, current events, politics and especially Duke basketball! Just ask her grandkids!

Sue is survived by her children Luther Thompson Hartsell, IV of Harrisburg, NC and Jane Hartsell Crawford of Redlands, CA and Concord, NC. She so loved her four grandchildren and two great grandsons: Madison Praechtl, husband Adam and their children Turner and Heath of Granite Quarry, NC, Mason Hartsell of New York City, Emma Lytle and husband Jake of Franklin Grove, Illinois, Carson Crawford and his partner Brianna Brawley of Portland, Oregon. Other cherished family members include nephews and nieces: Jake Wiggins (Patricia) and family of Ocean Springs, MS, Marianne Morgan (Ray) and family of Concord, and Barbara Fleming (Paul) and family of Charlotte, The Reverand Canon Martha (Marty) Hedgpeth of Charlotte, NC, and Jay Hedgpeth (Susan) and family of Winston-Salem, NC.

A memorial service will be officiated by the Rev. Ellen Crawford True on Thursday, October 5, 2023, at 2pm, at First Presbyterian Church, 70 Union Street North, Concord, NC. The family will welcome friends in the Fellowship House after the service. Mrs. Hartsell’s remains will rest in the Memorial Garden columbarium.

The Hartsell family would like to thank Levine Cancer Institute, and Hospice & Palliative Care of Cabarrus County for their compassionate and professional care.

A friend recently remarked, “Sue was the epitome of a gracious southern lady with the curiosity and knowledge of a modern female professional.”

The family requests in lieu of flowers, please consider making memorials in Sue’s memory to First Presbyterian Church Memorial Garden, P.O. Box 789, Concord, NC 28026, Boys & Girls Club of Cabarrus County, 247 Spring Street, NW, P.O. Box 1405, Concord, NC 28026, Cabarrus Arts Council, 65 Union Street, South, P.O. Box 809, Concord, NC 28026, or Concord Friends of the Library, Inc., P.O. Box 795, Concord, NC 28026.