Menu
Sue Ann Schweitzer Kilgore
“It’ll be alright” were the words our mom would often say. She was known fondly as the “Sweet, sweet lady.” Our mom, grandma, sister, aunt, and friend touched the hand of our Savior on Jan. 23, 2022, in Bakersfield, Calif. Born in Perryton, Texas on June 14, 1946, to Kenneth Raymond and Lita Doreen Schweitzer, she was one of four children. Mom was raised in Ashland, Kan. She was the beautiful homecoming queen candidate, cheerleader, and baton twirler. Later, she became a cosmetologist in Liberal, Kan.; however she left that profession to become a mother. Mom married out dad, James Kilgore, in 1965. Together, they built Zirkel Trucking, Inc., in Liberal, later relocating the business to Fort Scott, Kan. They had three children. She was the “mama bear” to her three boys, Jim, Robert and Eddy. She guided and protected us throughout life. We never went without. She instilled in our early years to love our God evident by sending us off in the church bus and at night, praying before bedtime, the sweet innocent words, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep” and occasionally singing with us the childlike song, “This little Light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Mom was a champion for the underdog. With, at times, so very few resources of hers, she would give to those in need while sacrificing her own; truly an example of what love really means in life. Love is all we can take with us when we depart this beautiful big blue marble of earth. She left no enemies.
Mom was preceded in departing this life by her parents, Kenneth and Doreen, sister Lynda Ritter, brother Gerold Schweitzer, and her youngest son, our baby brother, Eddy.
Left behind to carry on that love and kindness to others are her sons and wives: Jim and Tracey Kilgore (Waco, Texas) and their children, Caleb (Samantha), Hannah (Max), Samuel and Daniel; Robert and Dianna Kilgore (Bakersfield, Calif.) and their children, Jordan (Ryan) Shell, Jakeb and Josef and grandchildren from her late son, Eddy, Jesse Massey and Tyler Kilgore. She is also survived by her baby brother and his wife, Alan and Becky Schweitzer (Johnson, Kan.), her sister-in-law, Mary Jo Schweitzer (Ashland), in addition to numerous nieces, nephews and countless friends.
Please join us at a brief graveside service in Ashland at Highland Cemetery on Saturday, June 25, 2022, at 11 a.m. with Pastor Jim Kilgore officiating. Lunch will be served at the Ashland Senior Center immediately after services. Mom, we will continue to love like you loved. We will continue teaching your grandchildren the same and they will do the same with their children and so on for generations. It is a fitting legacy for you, our mom, the “Sweet, sweet lady.” Mom, no matter what we encounter in our lives, the good and the bad, “It’ll be alright.”