Susan Phipps

Susan Phipps died peacefully the morning of Saturday, November 7, 2026. She was born November 5, 1938, in Athens, Georgia to Major Frank Hardisty and Dot Combs Hardisty. The family moved often during her early years due to her father’s varied job assignments and Army service during World War II. After his retirement they came to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where Susan graduated from North Middletown High School. She attended the University of Kentucky where she became a Kappa Alpha Theta and met Richard Davis Howe, a graduate student and Navy veteran from Mayfield, Kentucky. Dick and Susan married on August 2, 1958, and settled in his hometown. They had a family of three children, Cathy, Dave, and Clayton. In the 1970’s Susan returned to school, earning a degree in economics from Murray State University. She began working in the family business, the Mayfield Sweet Feed Mill. After Dick’s death in 1983, Susan succeeded him as president of the Mill. Later she followed in his footsteps by joining the Mayfield Rotary Club – its first woman member. In time she became its first woman president and a Paul Harris Fellow.
In 1986 Susan married Frank Kolb, a widower and longtime family friend. They shared many sunny years in retirement, enjoying time with grandchildren and numerous friends. Three years after Frank’s death in 2000, Susan married Bob Phipps, who brought still more children and grandchildren with him into the family. Bob encouraged her to travel abroad, and together they visited first Scotland (all those sheep!) and other lovely places.
Susan organized her life around family, faith, friends, and service. Raised in the Episcopal church, upon arriving in Mayfield as a new bride she embraced First Presbyterian Church, where her husband and his parents, Roc and Helen Howe, were long-time members. She served there in traditional ways including teaching children’s Sunday School and circle membership. She also was one of the congregation’s earliest woman elders and led a pastoral search. For many years she represented the church in Presbytery meetings, and she represented the Presbytery at the 1982 PCUS General Assembly that voted to reunite southern and northern Presbyterians that had split during the Civil War. She and Bob joined Second Presbyterian Church after their 2013 move to Lexington.
Numerous moves in her childhood taught Susan to think of home not as a particular place, but as an atmosphere of beauty and welcome for friends and family. Her sewing and crafting talents produced draperies, pillows, lovely tablescapes (long before the term was coined), clothing for herself and family members, Halloween costumes, floral arrangements fresh from her garden, and more. She canned tomatoes and pickles, froze corn and green beans, cooked down applesauce, and prepared the numerous fish Dick brought home from Kentucky Lake. An open door, a seat at the table, a warm hug, a listening ear, a (mostly) calm home: these were tools Susan used to support family and friends. She sustained herself with scripture, prayer, dear friends, and a voracious reading habit.
Susan is survived by her daughter, Catherine Howe Hunt of Lexington; two sons and daughters-in-law Dave and Amy Howe of Memphis, Clayton and Carol Howe of Mayfield; stepchildren and spouses Genny and Byron Morgan of Louisville, Caroline Kolb of Chaplin, CT, Mary Porter and Sid Sutherland of Brentwood, TN; David and Lynn Phipps of Grand Haven, MI, Rob and Dorothy Phipps of Rochester, NY, Tina and Bob
Conklin of Rock Island, IL; stepdaughter-in-law Jane Kolb of Paducah; grandchildren, spouses, and great grandchildren Richard Hunt; Matt Hunt; Farley, Ed, Amy Caroline, Teddy Ezekiel; Emily, Greg, Smith, John Henry, William Gianis; Davis Howe; Brett, Candace, Dillon, Addison Jackson; Jay, James Kolb; Laura, Chad, Geneva, Byron, Phoenix, Heath Burke; Scott, Jessica, Alex, Elliott Morgan; Melissa, Trevor, Hayden
Hailey, Henry Durham; Will, Jaclyn, Kelby Hooper; Morgan Grace, Aaron Paul, Sean Leroy, Whelan Dennis Hart; Sarah Sutherland; Josh Sutherland; Leslie, Stu, Merin, Clara Povall; Greg, Shiraz, Oliver, Elinor, Henry Phipps; Julie Phipps, Zach Miller; Jim Phipps; Robin Phipps; Jonathan Phipps. She was preceded in death by her husbands, Dick Howe, Frank Kolb, and Bob Phipps; son-in-law Mark Hunt; and stepson Frank John Kolb.
Visitation for Susan Phipps took place at Byrn Funeral Home from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 15, 2026. Her funeral at Byrn Funeral Home was at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 16, with burial following at Highland Park Cemetery. The family suggests memorial gifts to First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 435, Mayfield, KY 42066; or the Mayfield Rotary Foundation, P. O. Box 485, Mayfield, KY 42066.