Susan Margaret Ganster Phillips went to her heavenly home on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. Sue was born to George and Margaret Ganster on November 3, 1941, in Birmingham, Alabama. While she was still a baby, her father entered the U.S. Army Air Force and went to Europe to fight in WWII. His plane was shot down over France, but he survived and was a POW in a prison camp until the end of the war. After he returned home, the family grew to include Sue’s sisters MaryLou and Jane. Sue attended Birmingham public elementary schools until, as a young teenager, her family moved to a suburb where she met her future husband, Ed Phillips. Sue and Ed socialized with a group of common friends throughout their high school years and started dating each other after Ed started at the University of Alabama. They got married the week after Ed graduated in 1962 and moved to Virginia for Ed’s job at NASA. They welcomed a son, Mark, in August 1963 and a daughter, Marci, in February 1967. They lived in Hampton until they had a house built in the Denbigh area of Newport News in 1968.
After her children were both in elementary school, Sue went back to school herself at Thomas Nelson Community College and earned an associate degree in Nursing. She passed the Virginia licensing exam after graduation to become a licensed Registered Nurse. She worked at Williamsburg Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital for a few years and then became a school nurse in the Newport News School System. She worked at four schools during her 18 years of service, retiring from Gildersleeve Middle School in 2000.
Sue was preceded in death by her parents. Sue is survived by her husband of 63 years, Ed; son Mark, daughter-in-law Betsy, granddaughters Madeline and Margaret Phillips of Lynchburg, Virginia; daughter Marci and son-in-law Allen Hunt of Poquoson, Virginia; and her sisters MaryLou Muir of Birmingham, Alabama, and Jane Watkins of Trussville, Alabama.
Sue joined Stevens Memorial Baptist Church in the early 1970s. She sang in the choir for many years and served in several roles until her recent illness. A memorial service will be held at the church on Saturday, February 7, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.