Suzanne Carol (nee Burke) Kline went home to Jesus in the small hours of Sunday, October 22, 2023. She was 87. In all things she was a tenacious servant of Jesus and everyone she met whether on the South Side of Chicago’s 1960’s as she helped lay the foundation for an African American liturgical Lutheran Church, or in Chicago’s Cook County Hospital as a young nurse who entered nursing school at age 16 and by 20 was head nurse of her own ward, or in her 50 some years of nursing in Chicago, Denver and the East Texas Piney Woods. She served with all that she had. Even in the nursing home she would occasionally inquire about working there. Her late husband, in his final days, frequently referred to her as, “The woman who works,” when he could no longer remember her name. At last, she is free from work, toil and pain and for this we are thankful. Her going home service will be at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 11 AM with visitation at 10 AM and a luncheon following the service. Burial will be November 7, 2023 at 10 AM at Oakland Cemetery, Freeport, IL. Sue is preceded in death by her parents, Chester and Jeanette Burke; by her brother John Burke, Sr.; and by her husband, Rev. Gerald C. Kline. She is survived by her son, Rev. John G. Kline (Grace) and by granddaughters Verity and Beata, of Des Moines and by many nephews and nieces and their children.
