Susan Myers DePrez

Susan Myers DePrez entered eternal life on June 18, 2020, at the age of 68 while in hospice care at home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Her son was holding her hand.  Her husband, daughter and friends arrived quickly to mourn and pray together “at the hour of her death.”

Susie Ann Myers was born in Santa Monica, California, on November 22, 1951; that was Thanksgiving Day, a day that was always precious to her.  Danny Thomas announced her birth on his TV show, where her dad Stan Myers was the musical director.  She was born into a family of performers; her mother Lillian danced in Vaudeville and on Broadway and her father Stan was the acclaimed conductor of the Stan Myers Orchestra.  From them she inherited a joyous sense of rhythm that was ignited every time she danced. 

She attended parochial schools in West Los Angeles and graduated from Marymount High School in 1969, where she earned a scholarship to Stanford University. She pursued a history major and spent a summer interning in the White House Office of Communications.  Her senior year, she was selected as a “Dollie,” one of the dancers for the “Incomparable” Stanford University Marching Band.  She loved to describe a most thrilling moment in her life: marching into the Stanford stadium on a football Saturday in front tens of thousands of fans as the band trumpeted its rendition of “All Right Now.”

Susie followed the law career path of her brother Frank, ten years her senior, by attending Loyola Law School and earning her J.D. degree in 1976.  She began her career as an attorney in the office of the Deputy Attorney General of California representing state agencies in business litigation.  In 1979, she became an associate counsel for Fluor Corporation, an international construction company based in Irvine, California. 

In 1981, Susie joined the Times Mirror Company of Los Angeles as senior staff counsel.  Her responsibilities ranged from real estate transactions to litigation management to employment.  Doing legal work for two of Times Mirror’s Denver properties, The Denver Post and Jeppesen Sanderson, brought her frequently to the Mile High City, her future home. 

In 1987, Susie married Greg DePrez, a Stanford classmate and cable TV executive.  Following the birth of their daughter Stephanie in 1989, they moved to Highlands Ranch, Colorado. They welcomed son Danny in 1991. Susie paused her legal career to devote her time to her family and her children’s schools.  As a St. Thomas Moore School parent, Susie served on the School Advisory Council, and with Greg and another couple, chaired the inaugural “Spring Fling” fundraiser for the school. At Regis Jesuit High School, which both children attended, Susie’s involvement earned her an outstanding volunteer service award.

In 2013, with both children in college, Susie became a legal consultant to the Cherry Creek Mortgage Company, where she reviewed trusts and legal documents until 2017. That year, a tumor in her lower back was identified as an osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive bone cancer, and she began treatment by the Sarcoma team at UC Health.

With amazing dedication and cutting edge treatments, the medical team tried to stem the spread of the multiplying tumors and give as much hope as they could, and they added many precious months to the journey.  But by April it was clear that our focus on Susie needed to change from healing to comfort, so the family chose to begin home hospice care.  Ironically, due to the Covid-19 crisis, daughter Stephanie had to come back from her opera career in Vienna and son Danny’s company directed him to work from home.  So the family was together to care for Susie in her final months, sharing time and nearly every meal with her.  Throughout the journey, Susie remained hopeful, faithful, and full of love.

The funeral mass for Susie was held at St. Thomas More Church on June 30.  It was followed by a commitment ceremony at Fort Logan National Cemetery, where she is now interred.  In her final days, Susie softly described to her family how to have a party: it should be casual and fun; she called it “understated joy.”  So on the beautiful summer evening of the funeral day, the family hosted a party of “understated joy.”  And there was much joyful dancing.  

Susie’s greatest delight was her children, and she wrapped them in a halo of love from the moment they arrived until the day she died. She lived her Catholic faith devoutly, and the active faith of her family is due in large part to her quiet devotion to the Holy Mother.  A centerpiece of her faith life was the community of Catholic couples that she and Greg were members of for many years that met regularly to study their faith and share the blessings and challenges of their lives.

Susie was preceded in death by her father Stan, her mother Lillian, and her brother Frank.  She is survived by her husband Greg, her children Stephanie and Danny, and her sister Gretchen Doeringer.  Regis High School was a driving force in her family’s education and faith formation, and she would have wanted other families to have that experience. We ask anyone who would like to make a memorial donation to direct it to the Regis Jesuit High School scholarship fund in her name. 

During a quiet moment after hospice care had begun, Susie explained that she knew why she was born on Thanksgiving.  She said, “I know what gratitude is.  I know how blessed I am and how much I have to be grateful for.  So it’s up to me to show others how to share their gratitude.” 

She did that all her life.  Those that knew and loved her will always be reminded of this, as her headstone will say forever: “She Was A Gift.”   

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Regis Jesuit High School. A fund has been set up to assist with student scholarships, in Susie's name. Donations can be made here: https://www.regisjesuit.com/honor--memorial-giving