Susan Ellen Bruty Wertheimer

SUSAN ELLEN BRUTY WERTHEIMER

San Francisco, Calif.

Susan Ellen Bruty Wertheimer, 78, passed away on Saturday, October 10, 2020, at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, where she was awaiting valve replacement surgery to address recently diagnosed severe aortic stenosis. The cause of death

is presumed to be heart valve failure. She was a long-time resident of Redwood Valley, CA.

Susan was born in Washington, IA, on her family farm to Colette TeBockhorst Bruty and William Bryan Bruty and was the fourth of their six children. She spent her early years riding horses, reading, and exploring the farm's surroundings, which may have sparked her lifelong love of nature. She was drawn to the arts, loved to sing, and had significant roles in Washington High School theater productions.

She graduated from Marycrest College in Davenport, IA, in 1964, with a degree in Elementary Education. Shortly after, her wandering spirit and love of the ocean took her to California, where she met and married Melencio Aranas, Jr. They resided in Vallejo, CA, and she was a teacher for some years. After a harmonious separation, Susan later met and married the love of her life, Thomas Joseph Wertheimer of Detroit, Ml. They spent some time in the Santa Rosa area before purchasing a parcel of land in Redwood Valley, one of the first to be sold from the subdivided large ranch up Tomki Road in the late 1970s.

Susan is survived by her husband, Thomas Wertheimer; by her sisters, Mary Gilmore, Peg Gebhardt and Sally Leyden; by her brothers, Bill Bruty and Tom Bruty; by her three sons, Sean Aranas, Ganya Wertheimer and Robert Wertheimer; by her two daughters, Steffani Aranas and Lauryn McCreadie; and by her six grandchildren.