Sue Toma

Sue Ann (Hinds) Toma

Sue A. Toma died on November 2, 2020, just two months before her 90th birthday, as a result of complications associated with cancer treatment.  The family expresses their appreciation to the healthcare team that contributed to the quality of the last few years of her life and enabled her to pass peacefully in her own home.

Sue was born on January 1, 1931, a New Year’s baby, the first in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma that year.  She represents a long line of American pioneer farmers, her grandparents arriving in Oklahoma in the early 1900’s after a series of 19th Century westward family migrations.

A daughter and wife of military pilots, Sue lived at locations around the country and the world including Michigan, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Puerto Rico, Georgia, Washington, Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Taiwan.  Her father, Col. Paul Hinds, and her husband, Lt. Col. Joseph Toma, are interred at Arlington National Cemetery.  Her mother was the late Dorothea Irene Todd.  Sue attended Gonzaga junior college in Washington and met then-Lt. Toma at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane.  They were married in 1952 prior to his deployment overseas to the Korean conflict.  After a series of transfers, Joe and Sue lived in Falls Church, Virginia, for over 40 years until his death in 2011, after which she relocated to live near her daughter in Parker, Colorado.

Sue met life with a ready smile.  Engaging and elegant by nature, she was active in the Air Force Wives Club and gourmet clubs and was an enthusiastic participant in bridge clubs and bowling leagues.  A fierce competitor, you could be assured that if you rolled a solid 220, she would score 221.  Her epic cribbage matches with her mother were similarly intense.  She became a real estate agent briefly and worked on the annual Decorators’ Showhouse for the benefit of the National Symphony Orchestra before beginning work as the women’s editor for the Air Force Times.  Hobbies included reading (particularly mystery novels), gourmet cooking, painting, clothing design, jewelry making, solving crossword puzzles, travel, and teapot and souvenir spoon collecting.

In her role as mother, no Halloween costume was too exotic to make, no birthday dinner and cake request too outrageous to prepare from her trove of recipes, no meal that could not be stretched to accommodate unexpected visitors.  She was an encouraging promoter of her children’s various activities.  With all the moving around and through personal challenges, she was calmly supportive and embodied the simple truth that home was wherever Mom was and that we would always be welcome there.

Sue is survived by three children, Rebecca Sue, Robert Joseph, and Clifford Bryce, as well as six granddaughters, Alexandra, Lindsay, Natalie, Colette, Emily, and Stephanie, and one great grandson, August.  Her brother, James Richard Hinds, and her niece, Tina Read, live near St. Petersburg, Florida.  Her aunt Eleanor Rorex resides in Aiken, South Carolina.

Plans are in progress for Sue’s interment with her husband at Arlington Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting family and friends to consider a charitable donation to the Air Force Aid Society. Please visit https://afas.org/ways-to-give to make a donation.