Mary S Luetschwager

Mary Susan Luetschwager age 88, passed away on Sunday, January 4, 2026.

She is survived by her loving husband, Bruce; children, Roger (Sharon) White of Monticello, Tisa Cunningham of Michigan City, Julia (Larry) Renicker of Winchester, Kentucky, Angela White of Las Vegas, Nevada, Robert White of Griffith and William Johnson of Hammond. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, Brad (Pamela) Lawrence, Jeremy York, Albert Cunningham, Matthew Cunningham, David Cunningham, Amber White, Crystal DeLeon, Kevin Robert Harper, Justine Johnson, Ashley Renicker and Ariana Renicker. She is also survived by 19 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. Suzy married Bruce on September 09, 2000. He survives.

Mary Sue, (known by many as SuzyQ) was born November 19, 1937, the daughter of the late William Shade of Hillsboro, Indiana and the late Goldina V. Brown (Newlin) of Bloomingdale, Indiana.

She worked at different jobs (some of which were office work, country music, flag car driver) prior to when she started driving over the road for Roadway Express in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1977. She was a retired teamster and gave up driving in 2006. During her truck driving career, she competed and was awarded Grand Champion in 2001 at the Illinois State Truck Driving Championships. Once she retired from trucking Suzy became more involved with motorcycling, a favorite pastime of hers since the 80s. She became a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Instructor in 1999 and taught many classes in Indiana for Abate of Indiana and Indiana State College in Terre Haute and in Illinois for University of Illinois/Urbana/Champaign and Harper College (Cook County). She also started the program for the Riders Edge Academy of Motorcycling at Calumet H-D in Munster, Indiana from 2006 until 2015. She was Administrative Coordinator for the Abate Rider Education Program from 2015 until 2026.

She enjoyed endurance riding and finished two “World Famous Iron Butt Rally” rides in 1995 and 1997. She was the first woman to finish that rally on a Harley motorcycle as most endurance riders rode BMWs or Hondas. In 1997 she finished in 6 th place on a 1996 BMW. She also finished an 8/48 Rally on that same BMW which started in Thornton, Colorado and ended at the same spot. Her 1993 Harley which she called the “Iron Butterfly” was stolen the day before that rally started and she was lucky enough to purchase a “used” 1996 BMW in Denver the following morning and use that in the rally. Since she had never rode the BMW over 10 miles before she started the 48 state ride and finished in 3 rd place was a testament to her endurance! Some of her Iron Butt Association certificates include a SSK, BBG and 50CC.

Suzy enjoyed travel. Some of her favorite memories were their honeymoon trip to two lighthouses Bed & Breakfasts in the UP, their trips to Hawaii, Barbados, New Orleans, Door County and the Badlands, Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Needles, visits to Sturgis, SD. She rode with friends to British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, a trip around Lake Michigan, a trip to Duluth, Minnesota via Hayward, Wisconsin.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2026 from 10:00 am–12:30 pm with services to follow at 12:30 pm at Hillside Funeral Home, 8941 Kleinman Road, Highland, IN

Burial will be at Roselawn Cemetery (4680 IN-10, Demotte, IN) at 2:30 pm.

For additional information, please contact Hillside Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Konnie Kuiper - Michael Kuiper--Vass by calling us at 219-838-0800 or visiting us at www.hillsidefhcares.com

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