Susie Ann Blackburn was born in Houston, Texas, on January 12, 1939. Her father, Willis Clifford Blackburn, explored for petroleum, being an employee of a company that became part of ExxonMobil. Her mother, Annie Lenora Whitmire, participated in a variety of civic activities. Both of her parents majored in geology at the University of Texas, where they met.

The family eventually settled in Mobile, Alabama, where Susie attended Leinkauf School and Murphy High School. During her youth, Susie studied art, music, and dancing, but came to most enjoy playing the flute. At both of her schools, she excelled in academics. At Murphy, she was on the debate team and played in the band. She was recognized as the best high-school flutist in the state of Alabama. She also was a National Merit Scholar.

She attended summer music camp at Florida State University. There, at the age of 15, she met William Martin Boyce (Bill), whom she later married. After high school, they both attended Florida State University, where Susie did well in politics. She was elected to the Student Traffic Court and later to the Student Senate. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa while majoring in Latin and English. She joined the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and was named Dream Girl of Pi Kappa Alpha, Bill’s fraternity.

Susie and Bill were married on January 31, 1959, at the Government Street Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama.

Each of them graduated from college in less than four years by exempting basic courses, and Bill’s ROTC experience meant he obtained a commission in the Army and was exempted from the draft. In the spring of 1960, Susie graduated with a B.A., and Bill with a B.A. and a M.A. in mathematics. They decided to transfer to Tulane University in New Orleans, so that Susie could get a master’s degree in English and Bill get a Ph.D. in mathematics. Dissatisfied with graduate English courses, Susie switched to Master of Arts in Teaching. Susie taught in the local schools while they were in New Orleans.

In April of 1963 the couple moved to Houston where Bill worked at NASA until August, when he was called to active duty in the Army. This took them to Columbus, Georgia, where Susie taught at a local high school. Afterwards, they moved to Baltimore, Maryland for more military training, and Susie worked in temporary secretarial jobs. Susie taught at the Ayer High School in  Ayer, Massachusetts when Bill was assigned to work at Fort Devens. 

In September 1965, they returned to Houston so that Bill could resume work at NASA. Susie taught English at an inner-city middle school and began graduate studies in education at the University of Houston. Susie moved to New Jersey in January 1967, when Bill took a job at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, and in August 1968 they moved to 17 Rockage Road in Warren. Susie began teaching English at Watchung Hills Regional High School and continued with her doctoral studies at Rutgers University.

Susie and Bill joined the Republican Club soon after moving to Warren. Susie was elected President of the Republican Club, served on the GOP Municipal Committee, and was appointed to the Township Board of Health. 

In 1971 and 1974, Susie gave birth to children Willis and Nell.

In 1974, she was elected to the Township Committee, becoming the second woman on the committee and the first Republican woman to serve in that role. In 1978, she became the first woman elected Mayor of Warren Township. In recognition of this, as well as her long public service, the Township Committee voted in 2002 to name the township meeting room the "Susie B. Boyce Meeting Room."

After earning her Ed.D. from Rutgers in 1972, Susie joined Montclair State University, where she served as Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Teaching for many years. Based on her own research on student outcomes, Susie implemented a refocusing of student teacher training from teaching educational theory to providing more school classroom experience. Susie was the sole counselor for students seeking a Master of Arts in Teaching, which at times meant advising more than 300 students. When she resigned from Montclair in 1994, she was replaced by three staff members to handle the workload she had previously managed alone.

After nineteen years of service on the Township Committee and two years as Mayor (1978 and 1986), in 1994 she chose not to run for election again. She wanted more time to research and write her books (six in all) and travel with Bill.

In 1994, she took on a leadership role with the Warren Township’s Historic Sites Committee. She wrote books on Warren history, including A History of Springdale United Methodist Church and A History of Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church, and books on several families that attracted her interest.

Susie was active in the Basking Ridge Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) for over 50 years. Working as the chapter’s registrar, she did genealogical research that helped 100 candidates qualify for membership, which is a significant portion of the current membership. She also researched her own ancestry and traced it back to Zadoc Briggs, who settled in New England in 1640.

Susie passed away on May 27, 2026, after 67 years of marriage. She is survived by her husband, William Boyce; her two children, Willis Blackburn and Nell Greenfieldboyce; and her grandchildren, William, Sidney, Ryan, and Iv.

Burial was in Pearland, Texas, in a Blackburn family plot at South Park Cemetery.