Suzanne Marie Jensen Cone

Suzanne Marie Jensen Cone passed away on Tuesday, June 9, from complications following surgery. She was born Aug. 16, 1967, in Provo, Utah, to Joyce and Alan Jensen. She lived in Provo, North Ogden, and Cedar City, Utah; Phoenix, Arizona (three different times); Moscow, Idaho and Des Moines, Iowa with her family. She attended Arizona State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian and German in 1989. Also at ASU she met Steven Patrick, whom she married in 1991. They were divorced in 1996.
After graduation Suzanne was recruited by two intelligence agencies; she accepted employment with the National Security Agency, where she worked for nine years. When offered the choice of becoming a linguist or an intelligence analyst, she chose analysis, eventually becoming an editor, compiling and summarizing the analysis of others. Her assignments for the NSA took her to Germany, England, Hawaii and Maryland. During her service she received several commendations for exceeding her duties. She was adjunct faculty of the National Cryptographic School while in Hawaii. She met Tomus Cone, an Air Force employee who worked in the same location, and they were married in 1998 in Hawaii.
Suzanne left the agency in 1999, and she and Tom and his son Tristan came to Utah to stay with her parents until Suzanne secured employment in Loveland, Colorado as an editor of SQL Server, a computer software magazine. While in Loveland she participated in the local LDS Writers Group, serving a term as its president. She developed lasting friendships and loyalty wherever she went.
One of Suzanne's greatest joys was being a mother. Jareth Harley Cone was born to Suzanne and Tom on June 11, 2000 in Fort Collins, and Paladin Vincent Amadeus Cone was born May 12, 2003 in Loveland. She used her creative talents to make crafts with them and to bake goodies for them. She played the piano nightly for them after they had songs and prayers together. She loved to just cuddle and hold them. Both boys learned to read before they started kindergarten, inheriting their mother's love of stories. Now Jareth and Paladin are writing their own books.
Suzanne's many interests included travel, hiking, reading, writing poetry and stories, playing the piano, and singing. While living in Maryland, she and a friend backpacked the Shenandoah Trail in Virginia. Then in Hawaii, she and the same friend went volcano hiking! During her two years in Europe, she and her husband went as far and wide as they were able, but Scotland was her favorite destination. In England she was thrilled to be able to visit the birthplace of William Shakespeare, one of her favorite authors. Other authors whose complete works she read were Agatha Christie, Isaac Asimov, Terry Pratchett, and Orson Scott Card.
After Suzanne sustained a back injury, she was unable to work full time and lost her job with Penton Publishing. She subsequently did freelance writing and editing, and she had two novels in progress.
Suzanne was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has served in numerous callings. Her favorite was directing the music in sacrament meeting, which she did in her Loveland ward for many years. She worked hard to do well in all her endeavors.
Since August 2008 Suzanne and her sons have been living with her parents in Payson, where she made a whole new circle of friends. The family is grateful for the outpouring of love and service rendered by neighbors and ward members following Suzanne's death.
Survivors include her husband, Tomus W. Cone, Fort Collins, Colorado and his son Tristan, Colorado Springs; sons Jareth and Paladin Cone, Payson; parents Joyce and Alan Jensen, Payson; sisters Julie (Jake) Hill, Springville; and Amy (Mark) Madsen, Ames, IA; brother Mark