Susan 'Sue' Gehrke Hartke

Sue Hartke, in a family portrait with her husband, Bob, and children, Sara and Bryan

Susan 'Sue' Gehrke Hartke

August 11, 1950 - North Mankato, Minnesota

May 27, 2008 - Bend, Oregon

dau. Ruben & Virginia (Burns) Gehrke

m. Bob Hartke, July 20, 1979 - Vale, Oregon

Section 5

Susan K. Hartke, of Bend, died Tuesday. She was 57.

A visitation will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at Niswonger-Reynolds Chapel. A recitation of the rosary will follow at 6:30 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

Mrs. Hartke was born Aug. 11, 1950, in North Mankato, Minn., the daughter of Ruben and Virginia (Burns) Gehrke. She graduated from West Linn High School in 1968. She earned an associate degree from Clackamas Community College in 1970 and a bachelor’s degree from Southern Oregon State College in 1972. She married Bob Hartke on July 20, 1979, in Vale.

Mrs. Hartke taught business education classes in Harper from 1972 to 1976 and in Vale from 1976 to 1979. She taught business at La Pine High School from 1979 to 1990. She taught at Bend High School from 1990 to 2001. In 2001, she was transferred to Summit High School; she retired in 2008. She was an assistant Girl Scout leader for troop 221 from 1988 to 1989 and she was an active member of the Troop 21 Boy Scouts of America Committee in the mid-1990s. She enjoyed reading, cooking, hunting, fishing, travel, the outdoors and spending time with family.

Survivors include her husband; a son, Bryan, of Bend; a daughter, Sara, of Bend; and her mother, Virginia, of Bend.

She was preceded in death by her father and two sisters.

Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Francis of Assisi building fund.

Niswonger-Reynolds Funeral home is in charge of arrangements.

Source:  Bend Bulletin

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Longtime teacher ‘never gave up’ on kids

By Sheila G Miller / The Bulletin

Published: May 30. 2008 4:00AM PST

For nearly 30 years, Sue Hartke was a mainstay in the Bend-La Pine Schools, teaching high school students from around the region good business sense.

Hartke, 57, died Tuesday, less than a year after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

After stints in Vale and Harper, Hartke moved to Central Oregon in 1979 and began teaching business classes at La Pine High School. She remained there until 1990, when she moved to Bend High, and when Summit High School opened in 2001, she took her expertise there.

For Martha Iverson, Hartke’s colleague at Summit High and a friend for 18 years, it was Hartke’s interactions with students that she’ll remember.

“She always found the goodness in each kid, and she never gave up on them,” Iverson said.

“She would never give up on them, even if they were struggling. She’d work with them, meet after school with them, miss her lunch to work with them. I saw her do that time and time again,” Iverson said.

Hartke was married to her husband, Bob, for more than 28 years, and had two children, Bryan, 25, and Sara, 23. After taking medical leave for the first half of this school year, Hartke retired in January. But Bob said she loved her job and her students so much, it was a hard decision.

"I don't know what she would have done in retirement," he said.  "Teaching was her life."

The couple met on a blind date, Bob said. They shared strong Midwestern values and many interests, including enjoying a good meal. Bob said he loved her positive outlook on life.

Part of Hartke’s allure was the way she interacted with people.

“There was no pretense,” Iverson remembered. “She treated each kid the same. She was really purposeful in her thinking and actions, kind of methodical.”

And a former student, Erik Ekstrom, 20, said she was always available to talk.

“She wasn’t complex,” Ekstrom said. “There was something so nice about her. That’s not to say she was simple. She just had a very tender way about her.”

Because of her years in teaching, Bob said, it was like she knew everyone in town.

“Whenever she was late somewhere, I’d ask her, ‘Who’d you run into now?’” he said.

Kristin Torkelson worked with Hartke at Bend High.

One of the things that impressed Torkelson was Hartke’s continuing interest in her profession. She took computer classes and went to conferences regularly.
 
“She was always trying to better herself, attending classes to make sure she was up to date and current,” she said. “I think that’s what made her such a good teacher.”

It was part of her dedication.

Once, Bob said he overheard someone complaining that being a teacher wasn’t really a full-time job because they got the whole summer off.

“I said, ‘You don’t know my wife,’” he said. “She would be at school at 7 o’clock, home around 4:30 in the afternoon, and she’d sometimes have two or four hours of grading papers at night and on the weekends.”

Over the years, Hartke taught everything from intro to business and computer applications to career and accounting courses. She also started the hospitality, tourism and recreation program at Bend High, which ended after she left the school, and she was in the midst of starting a similar program at Summit. Even though she’d planned to retire in the next few years, Torkelson said she’d wanted to get the programs going to give students more opportunities.

“She was always thinking about the kids,” Torkelson said. “She always put kids first ... She was still working to help the kids, improve the programs. I think she was always that way.”

Torkelson said that program is slated to start up again at Bend High this fall.

Ekstrom had two classes with Hartke while he was a Summit student. During his freshman year, Ekstrom and his computer lab partner set up various computers in the classroom so that, just after class let out, a Web site would appear on the screens with hamsters singing and dancing.

“I don’t think she ever got mad about it, she just laughed,” Ekstrom said. “From then on, we joked about hamsters.”

The joke stuck, and at Ekstrom’s graduation, Hartke presented him with a gift: a mechanical hamster wearing a karate uniform that sings and dances to the song “Kung Fu Fighting.”

Bob said Hartke was determined to beat the cancer, which was diagnosed last June, undergoing radiation and fighting to stay strong throughout her illness. But her tumor doubled in size in two months, Bob said. Still, Hartke insisted on going to the movie theater in the Old Mill last winter to see Ekstrom’s college choir perform onscreen.

When it came to students, Hartke was also active in other capacities, working with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for several years, and serving as the adviser to the Future Business Leaders of America at Bend High.
Marci Barnes, who was the adviser for Mountain View’s Future Business Leaders of America club, traveled with Hartke for the club’s trips and remembered her as extraordinary.

“She was a backbone,” Barnes said. “Sue was probably one of the most dependable people you could ever rely upon. She was always there.”

So it’s fitting that, when Hartke is remembered at her funeral Mass on Tuesday, there will be a Henry Adams quote on the prayer card.

“A teacher affects eternity. She can never know where her influence stops.”