Sue Ann Williams Leland

Obituary of

Sue Ann Wiliams Leland

As told by Robert Leland

On September 19, 2026, Sue Ann Leland went to be with her savior.

She is missed by her husband, Robert Leland, her daughter Rachel Leland, her son Christopher Leland, and many others.

She was born in California and had lived in Minnesota, Massachusetts, California, Alabama, and Oklahoma, as well as serving in a medical clinic in Burkina Faso.

She grew up in Minneapolis, living with her mother and grandparents. When she was seven years old, she attended a backyard Bible club run by Child Evangelism Fellowship and invited Christ into her life, setting the rest of her life on a course marked by the faithfulness of God, compassion for others, and a bold, adventurous spirit. No one in her family went to church, so she prayed God would provide a way. God looked out for her as women in her neighborhood took her to church. At age 12 she began attending Hope Presbyterian Church and would walk the four miles to the church if she could not get a ride, including in winter. God provided a pastor there, Allen Talley, who helped her a lot and later preached at our wedding. While in high school, she taught Sunday School and assisted with services at a school for children with disabilities and at a nursing home.

She studied at Wellesley College in Massachusetts on partial scholarship, and graduated with a double major in Biological Sciences and Religion & Biblical Studies. She was a leader in her fellowship group and published two articles in Decision Magazine.

After college, she worked part-time as a church secretary and nursing assistant, and taught a bible club for Native American girls.

In 1983 she moved to Pasadena, California to study at Fuller Seminary, but did not have funds to continue and had to leave. She worked as a school teacher and volunteered on a telephone hotline for teenagers living on the street. At her school, one of the moms told her 'I would never send my child to school without a knife."

God was faithful in her adventure again. She received a full-tuition scholarship to the UCLA School of Public Health. She still had no money for rent. She went to the housing board at Santa Monica Community College, and a woman she had never met pointed out a card and said, "This is for you." It turned out to be a residence for international students, run by the Plymouth Brethren. She explained her situation, and they asked her what she could do. She said she could lead bible studies, and they gave her free housing in return for leading the studies. She also volunteered at the Holy Ghost Repair Service, a center for the homeless and those seeking freedom from drug addiction. She also volunteered at a home for abused children. In another adventure, she worked for a summer at a Sudan Interior Mission clinic in Mahadaga, Burkina Faso, that was the only medical facility in the region, run by a Canadian nurse who became a lifelong friend.

This is when we met at UCLA. We were part of an InterVarsity small group for graduate students. She graduated and returned to Minneapolis. After I finished a post-doc in 1989, I looked for teaching jobs and, at the last minute, was offered a one-year visiting position at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I began attending a church near the university, and the second week I was there, Sue Ann visited from her church and taught in the young adult group. I thought, 'She looks familiar.' She mentioned the St. Croix River was very nice at this time of year, so we went there. She brought food, and I thought, 'This is a good deal'. During this time, she was a medical student and was also co-leading a youth group of girls from the Laotian and Hmong refugee community. The girls liked the fact that I had dark hair.

We were married in Minneapolis in December 1990. It was cold, and it snowed a lot. Her maid of honor got diverted to Duluth, but made it in time. Our families and undaunted friends were there. Since all the warm places were booked up, we went to Paris for our honeymoon, and had more adventures, like bicycling to Le Mont San Michel, and getting a flat tire in the rain. (they sent a bus for us) We also had some really good food.

We lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for 15 years, where I taught at the University of Alabama. Sue Ann began experiencing medical challenges that impacted her off and on for the rest of her life. In spite of these, she helped lead our church's youth group, taught a Child Evangelism Fellowship class at an inner-city YMCA, and was the chairperson for the National Day of Prayer observance for Tuscaloosa County. She brought together Christians of different races and backgrounds who previously had little interaction with each other, and some understood each other better as brothers and sisters in Christ afterwards.

Looking through a whole closet full of props for children's ministry, many of which she made herself, I can see how enterprising she was. We have a child-sized version of the tomb that Lazarus emerged from, lots of costumes, a 'Goliath' for kids to throw a sling at, Mount Carmel, a tree, and an ocean scene.

She had a dream to be a mother, and overcame her health challenges to give birth to Rachel. Since Rachel was born in November, we were Mary and Joseph, and Rachel was baby Jesus in our Christmas program that year.

We joined a church with an emphasis on prayer and healing, and many of her medical issues improved. She led a class for children aged seven to twelve that grew to forty kids, many of whom were bused in from the projects. She was known as Miss Sue. For six years, she especially invested herself in two girls who she still had contact with recently. She was a tremendous teacher. We also co-taught the church's main adult Sunday School class, and she taught ORU extension classes in missions, hermeneutics, and church history through the church Bible Institute.

In 2005, we moved to Tulsa, and I began teaching at Oral Roberts University. Sue Ann was pursuing a seminary degree and taught a class on inner healing at Tulsa's Crisis Pregnancy Outreach. In 2006, we travelled to China and adopted our son Chris. We are very proud of both of our children (not children anymore, but we still remember all kinds of things 😊).

She also taught a Sunday School class for children at Victory Church, and later a leader in the Switch youth program at LifeChurch. Her 'Switch Leader' t-shirt was sometimes mistaken for a political comment.

In 2010, Sue Ann graduated from ORU with a Master of Divinity Degree. She especially appreciated the influence and mentorship of her advisor Dr. Trevor Grizzle.

On another adventure, we travelled to Mongolia for a short-term mission trip, teaching English and doing ministry for children, middle school students, and teenagers, and teaching English to the local Parliament in a remote village not reachable by road, with water from a well. In doing so, she introduced children's ministry as a way to reach a community in Mongolia. Learning English was very important for Mongolian leaders who wanted to do business with the US, and not be limited to Russia and China.

While in the capital city of Ulan Bataar, we checked emails, and she found out about a teaching position at Southwest Christian University. From 2012 to 2017, she taught six different courses at their Tulsa site and remotely.

We joined the Tulsa International Fellowship led by Ben Chrisostom, who would travel to India and preach during the summer, often in places that were dangerous for Christians. She led the group in his absence in Summer 2021, and for some time after that.

We later joined a small group led by Rosemary Segee, and in 2024, Sue Ann and I began co-leading the group with her.

Since her passing, I have been contacted by a number of people whom Sue Ann had impacted and helped. More than I even knew about. She lived a life of adventure, faith, and investing in the lives of others.

Like the lamb in the picture, she is with Jesus and very happy.