Susan L. Walker

Susan Lee Erickson Walker, 79, passed away on July 28, 2024 at Eagle Crest South Retirement Community in La Crosse, Wi. Susan was born in Duluth, Minnesota to Elizabeth Helen (Brain) Erickson and Robert Lee Erickson on August 20, 1945. Susan enjoyed a wonderful childhood with her family in Duluth and in the summer at their resort, Bobs Landing, on Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota. Susan attended public schools in Duluth and graduated from Denfeld High School in 1963. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in Duluth with a degree in teaching Susan relocated to Minneapolis for a teaching position as an English teacher at the Edina schools. Susan was married to Michael Walker from Minneapolis in 1969 and divorced several years later. Eventually her writing skills lead her to a career in medical writing, which became her lifetime career. Susan had her own consulting business, Walker Resources, Inc., working with companies introducing new medical devices for several years before taking positions with medical device companies, including a long employment with St. Judes Medical Devices based in Minneapolis.

Susan had a wonderful long-time group of close friends who had many adventures, dinners, movies and good times together including trips to France, Italy, Cuba, the Caribbean and other locations. She had a great sense of humor and really appreciated both telling and listening to a good story. She was a generous and caring friend - who absolutely picked out the best cards and presents for the birthdays of friends and family!

Art, interior design and beauty in all things were very important to Susan and she made her Minneapolis home and her Mille Lacs Lake home beautiful and comfortable places for everyone to enjoy. Her special place was her place on Mille Lacs, a family cabin since 1938. Her childhood summers at Bobs Landing, their family resort, were some of her happiest memories. The resort was located two miles away from Malmo, where her great-grandparents, Johan P. and Elisabet Carlson settled when they moved to Minnesota from Sweden in the early 1890s.

The family wants to thank the kind, caring, skillful, and compassionate staff at Eagle Crest South for the excellent care that Susan received while living there. We also thank her assistant, Karen Deusch, who watched over Susan’s fitness with many exercises, activities and adventures. Susan is survived by her sister, Carol Erickson, her brother-in-law John Hans Mayer, her nephew, Jeremiah Erickson, her nephew, John McKagan and his wife Karen, her nephew, Richard McKagan and his wife Michelle, her great niece, Hannah McKagan and Hannah’s son, Hunter and daughter, Abby and her great nephew, Timothy McKagan and his fiancé, Samantha Fuller.

Susan was preceded in death by her mother, Elizabeth (Betty) Erickson, her father, Robert (Bob) Lee Erickson, her older sister, Sandra McKagan, her brother-in-law, Jack McKagan, her uncle and aunt, Allen and Mary Brain, and her Grandparents, Edwin A. and Hilma K. Erickson, and Thomas W. and Esther Lee Brain.

A private memorial will be held at a date to be determined at her cabin on Mille Lacs Lake. Susan will be buried at the Malmo, Minnesota cemetery. Susan gave generous donations to many causes she believed in and in particular to the Alzheimers’s Association. Donations in her name may be sent to https://act.alz.org.