Condolences Following the Passing of AQHA Director at Large, Suzanne Rodgers Nelms

AQHA Publicity

Suzanne Rodgers Nelms passed away at her home in Houston on July 19, 2017.

She was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 27, 1931. She attended Ward Belmont in Nashville and Finch College in New York City. She met Frank Nelms while he was attending Sewanee. After dating for several years, they were married October 7, 1950. Suzanne and Frank had a beautiful marriage of 66 years.

Suzanne lived life to the fullest. She always was the life of the party and never met a stranger. Suzanne had a great appreciation of the arts. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting museums all over the world and attending the symphony, ballet and opera. She was very artistic and spent countless hours painting. Her family is blessed to have many of her tremendous paintings. Suzanne was also an accomplished horsewoman. She rode gaited horses as a child in Tennessee and continued her love of the sport as she showed cutting horses in Texas. Suzanne was named National Cutting Horse Association Amateur Rider of the Year and was an AQHA director and director-at-large.

Together, Suzanne and Frank were members of several clubs: River Oaks Country Club, Bayou Club, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, The Mansfield Club, and the Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club. Suzanne also was a member of the Town and Country Garden Club and the Garden Club of Houston where she spent many hours working in the gardens of Houston Hospice. She was a life committeewoman of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where she served as a vice chairman on the Quarter Horse Committee. Suzanne also was the MFAH Grand Gala Ball founder and chairwoman and served on the board for Houston Hospice.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Susie Boston and A. Hebert Rodgers; her brothers, John Alden Rodgers and Robert B. Rodgers; her husband, Frank Constant Nelms; their son, Frank Chadwick Nelms; and their daughter, Nina Nelms Lyons. She is survived by her son-in-law, Jack Lyons, and her three grandchildren, Chad Lyons and wife Katie, Allen Lyons and wife Carol Lee, and Sara Lyons Patten and husband Reid. Frank and Suzanne were blessed with four great-grandchildren, Annie, Berklee, Chadwick and Cameron Lyons.

The family would like to thank Dr. Emily Barker, Dr. Colin Barker and Maddie Bunch, R.N., for their devoted and loving care of Suzanne.

A memorial service was conducted on August 1, 2017, in the Chapel of the Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard in Houston.

Memorial contributions can be made to Houston Hospice, 1905 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030; the Frank Chadwick Nelms Scholarship Fund at the University of the South, 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383; the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 50 Briar Hollow Lane, Suite 250E, Houston, TX 77027; American Quarter Horse Foundation, P.O. Box 32111, Amarillo, TX 79120; or to the charity of one’s choice.