Sue Hovey, a longtime educator at the University of Idaho, died on January 12. She was 82 years old and had been battling cancer.
A native of Naples, Texas, she was born Margaret Virginia Young. She went by the nickname Suzy Q and later in life after she married Norman Hovey in 1957, she legally changed her name to Sue Hovey.
After graduating from high school as valedictorian, she enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She dropped out of school to raise a family but returned and earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Idaho at the age of 36. She then had a 30-year career as a teacher in the Moscow, Idaho, public schools. She also earned a master’s degree at the University of Idaho.
In 1990 she was named the Outstanding Teacher in Idaho by the University of Idaho and in 2014 was awarded an honorary degree from the university. After retiring from the Moscow public schools, she was an adjunct professor at the University of Idaho for 15 years. She also taught at Washington State University.