Susan Reynolds Wyatt

Susan Wyatt’s move from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Westminster Canterbury brings her geographically back home.  The daughter of parents who worked at Virginia Episcopal School, Susan’s home sat on land that now is WC’s campus.  Her arrival gives WC the distinction of having a mother, in this case Kay Wyatt (resident since 1995), and daughter both in Independent Living.

Upon graduating from E. C. Glass High School, Susan studied for two years at the Medical College of Virginia School of Nursing before transferring to the College of William and Mary where she received a B. S. degree in Biology. She continued her education at the University of North Carolina and in 1972 was awarded a Master’s Degree in Public Health with a concentration in Air Pollution Control Engineering and Occupational Health.  Six years later she added a MBA degree from Duke University to her credentials. 

From 1972 until her retirement in 2004, Susan held the position of environmental engineer and branch chief with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.  She has the distinction of being the first female environmental engineer hired by OAQPS, as well as the first female manager responsible for a group of scientists and engineers.

Susan and co-worker Robert (Bob) Kellam (deceased 2016) married in 1984.  After she retired, Susan, Bob, and Susan’s step-daughter, Leewyn, turned 60 acres that Bob had inherited into the Kellam-Wyatt Farm, an enterprise that grew and sold organically-produced vegetables, fruits and eggs at farmers’ markets, to individuals, and to local eateries.  

Susan became a Master Gardener and, among other responsibilities, oversaw the establishment of information booths that were a part of various community events. She also took care of bluebird nest boxes at Wake County’s Historic Oak View Park and its Office Park.  Susan holds membership in organizations such as the North Carolina Bluebird Society and the North Carolina Art Museum and the Science Museum and is a board member of the City of Oaks Foundation.

Mindful of the pleasure they experienced from the open, undeveloped spaces of the Kellam-Wyatt farm, in December 2013, Susan, Bob, and Leewyn had a conservation easement placed on the property with the City of Oaks Foundation and the Conservation Trust of North Carolina.  With a donation of the property to Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space in 2018, the land is now known as the Kellam-Wyatt Farm Preserve.

Once Susan is settled in her apartment at WC, she plans to find ways to satisfy her interests in gardening, arts and science museums, bird watching, and continuing education for retirees, to name a few.