Susan Walp French

Susan Walp French went home to her Lord and Savior peacefully on November 5, 2026.

Susan was born in Berwick, Pennsylvania, on June 9, 1945, to Jane Smethers Walp and William Robert “Bob” Walp. She was the oldest of three sisters, survived by Cathy Walp Askew and Ellen Courtney Walp.

Susan attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she met her husband of 47 years, David James “Jim” French. They married on November 11, 1967 in Fairfax, Virginia and spent the early years of marriage in San Francisco, California, where Susan worked for Qantas Airways and likely caught the travel bug. Their four children were born in San Francisco and spent their early childhood in San Mateo. In 1985, the family moved to Paradise Valley, Arizona, which was Susan’s home for the next 41 years. Susan also summered for more than 50 years in Ludington, Michigan, where she will be dearly missed by all her Epworth friends.

Susan adored her family more than anything. She was the proud mother of four children, Amy French McFarland (Sloane), Katy Elizabeth French-Bloom (Michael), William Walp French (Katie) and David Randolph French (Kristen); grandmother of twelve, Ella French and Nina Francis McFarland (Amy); Hahn Robert, Henson James, and Randolph French Bloom (Katy); Peter Walp, William John and Stella Jane French (William); and James “Jimmy” Patrick, Charlotte Frances, Tucker Hayes and Lucy Mae French (David); and great-

grandmother of one, Lido Amos McFarland (Ella) and she shared special memories and experiences with each of them.

Susan’s faith, and sharing that faith, was at the center of who she was and how she lived each day. She lived her faith by serving – teaching children weekly at Community Bible Study and showing movies each Friday to the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul. Having lost a child to stillbirth at five months, she carried a special tenderness for the unborn and spent much of her time supporting and advocating for pro-life causes. Susan was a daily mass communicant and prayed for everyone at all hours of the day and night.

We will love and miss her dearly, and we pray she is safely in the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, dancing the night away with her husband, Jim, who preceded her in death.

A Rosary Vigil will be on Thursday, November 19, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. at St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, 2312 E. Campbell Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85016. Please follow this link for the rosary for those unable to attend in person: https://www.staphx.org/

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, November 20, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Basilica, 231 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85004. Here is the link to view for those unable to attend in person: https://www.facebook.com/SMBasilica

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Susan’s memory to St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church (3801 E. Greenway Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85032), St. Simon Catholic Church (702 E. Bryant Rd., Ludington, MI 49431), St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church – music ministry (2312 E. Campbell Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85016).