Susie Papé, philanthropist and Papé Group board member, dies at 76

In the 1970s Susie Papé was a member of the Centuriannes, the women’s attaché of the ROTC at the University of Oregon. UO was a school at the forefront of the left-leaning university protests during the Vietnam War.

Jordan and Ryan Papé recall their mother, Mary Susan “Susie” Yancey Papé, as courageous and determined. 

“Her dad flew Navy fighter planes off of aircraft carriers in World War II, and so she took the other position on the Vietnam war and was in the Centuriannes,” Ryan Papé said. “The way the story goes is, they (the ROTC cadets) were coming in one night on the buses, and the protesters started to get in their faces.”

Susie Papé became the center of attention. 

“Things were about to get rowdy when up in the middle of the crowd, 5-foot-1 Susie breaks up the crowd,” Ryan Papé said “And that is a picture of Susie that could be a picture for you for her whole lifetime. She was unafraid to pop up in the middle of a tense environment and tell everybody exactly what she thought.”

Susie Papé died Aug. 21 at age 76. 

She was born March 22, 1950, in Prineville. The daughter of a ranching family with roots in Crook County, she split time between Salem and Prineville, staying with her grandmother out in Crook County when her severe allergies became unbearable. Those formative stays in Prineville gave her a childhood shaped around ranching and horses.

“She had horrible allergies, so she would go visit her grandparents and affectionately loved her grandmother, who took care of her while she was out in Prineville, and that gave her the bug for ranching, which led later on in life to her connection to Prineville, the Crooked River Roundup, and our own family ranch,” Jordan Papé said.

Family first

Those who knew Susie Papé describe her as small in stature, but powerful in presence.

Her sons affectionately nicknamed her “the badger” because she looked “all cute and cuddly but if you crossed her, she was going to come out, and you were going to know it,” Jordan Papé said.

Her fierceness extended to protecting her family. Ryan Papé recalled her automatic defense of her three sons, no matter the circumstances.

“She was a strident defender of her three kids,” Ryan Papé said. “She just defended her boys profusely.”

The most vivid example, according to her son, was during his college years at UO.  

“I played a prank in college with some buddies,” he said. “During Memorial Day weekend, when one of the sororities was fairly empty, we broke into the house, and I let over 200 crickets loose, some live mice, and stuffed some dead fish around the house.”

When Ryan Papé and his girlfriend — now his wife, Jennifer — who lived in the house at the time talked to his mother about the incident, she had her son’s back. 

“She said, ‘Oh, Jen, you need to lighten up; that was just a prank, right?’” Ryan Papé said.

In 1997, her husband, Randy Papé, was diagnosed with terminal jejunal cancer. Doctors gave him 14 months to live, and according to Jordan Papé, the standard treatments at the time would have been fatal, rupturing his aorta.

Rather than accept that fate, Susie began research. She discovered the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota just invented pinpoint radiation therapy, which could remove the cancer without destroying the surrounding tissue. She got her husband to Rochester, Minnesota; he got the treatment and lived 11 more years, getting to spend time with his grandchildren, watching his sons establish families.

“Without her, I’m convinced he wouldn’t have lived those extra years. But she leaned into it, and he lived those extra years,” Jordan Papé said.

The rudder of Papé

When her father died in 1996, Susie Papé was brought onto the board of the Papé Group, a major equipment distribution company founded in 1965.

She had no formal business training; her background was as a bank teller and a mother.

Just more than a decade later in 2008, Susie Papé would see both worlds change.

Nov. 6, her husband, Randy Papé, died of a heart attack. Within weeks, the financial system collapsed. The Great Recession had begun. 

As board chair, Susie Papé became what her son called “the rudder” — not the captain steering the day-to-day operations — but rather the compass setting the direction and tone for the company. 

“Mom’s communication with the banks, with our manufacturers, with others, with some large customers was really important to make sure that they knew that we were going to not only make it through the Great Recession, but we were also going to make it as a company, and we were not going to be selling the business,” Ryan Papé said.

The company had to lay off workers; it had to make some sacrifices. But Susie Papé refused to allow the company to sell amid the struggles. 

“She could have tried to sell the whole thing off in a panic, right? But she had the courage to see it through,” Jordan Papé said.

A generous heart

By the time Susie Papé stepped back from leadership in the family company, her family had expanded.

Her grandchildren called her “Susu,” and she loved them with a generosity that both amused and exasperated her two sons. They tried to teach their children financial responsibilities through budgeting and allowances, but Susu had other ideas. 

“Well, that’s how I was raised, but she did not have any interest in doing that with her grandkids. With her grandkids, it was just a shopping spree. Like we’re going, there’s no limits,” Jordan Papé said. “So all of our kids love shopping with Susu, whether it was school time or around the holidays, way more than they like shopping with their mother or father.”

She became famous for having sheets of piping hot chocolate chip cookies ready for her sons and their friends, and eventually her grandchildren. She also was a master seamstress. She often would make her children handmade clothes, and was notorious for wearing clothes she sewed herself.

Susie Papé was a philanthropist at heart. 

She started her volunteer work in the Junior League, then took on causes for the local hospital and the University of Oregon.

Before long, statewide groups were asking for her, too. She served on the University of Oregon Foundation and Oregon Health & Science University Foundation boards and supported the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

“When you’re willing to say yes, then you get invited to participate,” said her son Jordan Papé. “And Susie always said yes.” 

“Susie Papé believed deeply in the power of innovation to improve lives and strengthen our communities. Her family’s transformative gift to create the Papé Family Innovation Center has enabled researchers, students, entrepreneurs and industry partners to work together to translate discoveries into real-world impact,” said Bob Guldberg, vice president of UO and executive director of the Knight Campus in an email to Lookout.

“Her generosity, leadership and unwavering commitment to Oregon will continue to inspire our work for generations to come. We are profoundly grateful for her friendship and her extraordinary legacy,” he said.

Much of her giving happened quietly. Ryan Papé said she anonymously helped students from Prineville pay for college and supported public and private schools in Eugene. 

Susie Papé, a former Oregon marching band clarinetist, also made a habit of asking school band directors how she could help buy instruments. 

But of everything, the cause closest to her heart was the Crooked River Roundup in Prineville, where her family ranched for generations. They all served as the Roundup’s grand marshal, and this year was her turn. By then she was too sick to attend. 

“She was so disappointed,” Jordan Papé said.

“The Crooked River Roundup had kind of gotten to a point where it wasn’t growing. Susie came on to our board and her enthusiasm and business background made it very, very clear that she intended for our rodeo to become something special,” said Doug Smith, a member of the board of directors for the Crooked River Roundup. “She probably is the reason that we have grown to be one of the top 60 rodeos in the United States, and we were also the most successful horse racing meet in the state of Oregon, and a lot of that has to do with Susie’s input or enthusiasm.”

Smith fondly remembered Susie Papé picking up guests in her four-door gator, and bringing them to the entrance of the roundup. 

“She did that because she loved being with the people,” Smith said. “She did that right up until the last two years, she suffered some various health issues and was limited in her involvement during the events.”

A legacy left behind

When Susie’s health failed, she had one clear wish: spend her final days at home, surrounded by her sons and their wives. 

“We really got along well. It’s almost pulled us a little bit closer together,” Ryan Papé said.

What both sons want people to remember is her courage. 

“She was more ready to check the idea, and make sure that she was going to raise an opinion rather than check her words,” Ryan Papé said. 

In a world where people constantly second-guess themselves, Susie Papé never did.

Susie Papé’s celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, at the Ford Alumni Center, 1720 E. 13th Ave.