About Sue Ipacs
The Susan K. Ipacs Legacy Scholarship Funds were established at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio to honor the work and life of Susan Ipacs – nurse, instructor, mother, wife and friend.
Sue Ipacs’ character reflected her Appalachian heritage. Her mother (from Tyler County, West Virginia) and father (from Ross County, Ohio) were self-reliant and independent, committed to a financially responsible lifestyle of hard work and industriousness. Her parents were kind and helpful toward others, their Christian beliefs fundamental to their home life. As a result, Sue had a preference to soothe and avoid conflict, though never to be confused with acquiescence or unwillingness to tenaciously defend her views. Like her parents, Sue put others at ease and is remembered for her compassionate nature.
On her path to professional accomplishments, Sue had to overcome significant obstacles. After graduating from Chillicothe High School, her passion to help others led her to pursue a career in nursing. However, she abandoned her studies in favor of marriage but soon found herself divorced and the mother of an infant daughter, Jill. Working a minimum wage job and feeling trapped by her life circumstances, Sue realized education was the key to a positive future for both her and her daughter. She was determined to complete her degree in nursing. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Hocking College in 1977. Although a single working mother, Sue continued her studies and earned her BSN from Ohio University in 1984, again graduating Summa Cum Laude. In 1985, Sue became a nursing instructor at Hocking College. Sue became a mother again, giving birth to Joseph (“Joey”) in 1988 and Christopher (“Bo”) in 1990. Not to be deterred from her continued studies, Sue earned her master’s degree from Wright State in 1994.
Although Sue could be described as cerebral and thoughtful, she was intensely passionate about her family and nursing. Her dedication, competence and character led Sue to become an associate dean in the School of Nursing at Hocking College in 1999. Her professional memberships included the Ohio Council of Associate Degree Nursing Education Administrators, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and the Education Advisory Council of the Ohio Board of Nursing.
Sue never lost her love of nursing and never forgot the circumstances that led to her college education. She felt a personal responsibility to recognize and attend to the underprivileged and non-traditional student. As a nursing instructor and associate dean, Sue strove to ease the burdens and obstacles facing students, while nurturing their passion to help others. It is hoped that students pursuing their nursing degree understand and always remember the consecrated role they will have in the lives and deaths of their patients and the family members that care for them.