In Memory of Susan Davison Archer (December 15, 1946 – July 14, 2026)
We offer our condolences to the family and colleagues of the Rev. Susan Davison Archer, who died on July 14, 2026, at the age of 79.
Susan was born on December 15, 1946, in St. Louis, Missouri, the third and youngest child of Jean and Owen Davison. Her family moved to Evanston, Illinois; Montclair, New Jersey; and Devon, Pennsylvania, and she spent more than three-quarters of her childhood in the East. In 1965, she graduated from Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
Susan attended DePauw University in Indiana, where she embraced the challenges and opportunities the university offered. She loved her time at DePauw and often wove social issues and religious questions into her coursework. In 1969, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion. After graduation, she moved to Chicago, where she pursued her interests in social change. In 1970, she earned a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from the University of Chicago. She later married Vance Archer and moved from Chicago to New Jersey. During this period, she felt especially open to the wonder and vitality of life. She joined a Unitarian Church, which became a place where she could continue questioning, growing, caring, and rejoicing. Through the church, Susan and Vance became Unitarian Universalists. Unitarian Universalism offered Susan a community where she could engage in significant conversations about life, its meanings and conflicts, and its ethical imperatives. Nowhere else did she feel so clearly empowered to say what she thought and to act according to her own conscience.
From 1980 to 1982, Susan served as Board Secretary for the First Unitarian Church of Monmouth County in Lincroft, New Jersey, and as a Newsletter Editor from 1982 to 1983. From 1982 to 1994, she served as a religious educator at the congregation. In this role, she led life-cycle ceremonies, preached, counseled, and taught, with a particular focus on religious growth and development. Her expertise in religious education, along with her ease in teaching and modeling a Unitarian Universalist approach, made a significant contribution to the congregation. The growth of the religious education program at Lincroft, both numerically and in other ways, was a testament to her efforts.
Susan had an intuitive sense of what children and adults needed and sought in their spiritual journey, and she brought that understanding to her work with the congregation. Her own need to question, explore, journey, and adventure ultimately motivated her to minister to others. She wanted to become a minister of religious education who could nurture and stimulate individuals and congregations to journey through life with courage, curiosity, and generosity. In 1993, she completed the UUA Independent Study Program at Meadville Lombard Theological School. The Rev. Archer was ordained on February 13, 1994, by the First Unitarian Church of Monmouth County in Lincroft, New Jersey. From 1994 to 2002, she served as Religious Education Consultant for the Metro New York District in Croton-on-Hudson, providing consultation and support to congregations and religious leadership in developing and sustaining life-span religious education programs and ministries. She maintained close relationships with District committees and professional groups responsible for religious education programs and ministries. From 2002 to 2012, the Rev. Archer served as Minister of Religious Education at the Cedar Lane UU Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland. She brought skills in group dynamics, counselling, and intergenerational worship.
Rev. Archer also served on the board of the Liberal Religious Education Association (LREDA) from 2005 to 2008. She played a pivotal role in developing the acclaimed Our Whole Lives (OWL) curriculum and authored numerous articles, essays, and lectures on nurturing intergenerational spirituality, celebrating the diversity of nature and humankind, and strengthening the integration of Unitarian Universalist faith communities.
In 1994, she received the Roberta Nelson Award for Excellence in Religious Education from Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, Illinois.
Outside of ministry, Susan enjoyed murder mysteries (both written and dramatized), music, and nature. She travelled extensively throughout her life, visiting India, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iceland, Italy, Canada, the Cayman Islands, and Scotland.
Her daughter Carrie Eliza shared, “My mother was a petite force of nature. She had a magical way of making herself quiet and open enough for anyone to become comfortable around, yet when she needed to, she could command a room and make herself be heard.
She was a lover of true crime, chocolate, and red wine. A trusted friend and confidant. A good listener, and a truth teller even when the truth was hard. A silly goose that loved to reminisce with her best friends and cousin over the phone to laugh until her belly hurt. An adventure and a homebody all at once and I will hold all these versions of her forever.”
Susan is survived by her three children: Asa, Carrie Eliza, and Ethan (Laurel); her daughter-in-law, Sara; her grandchildren, Max and Sid; Laurel’s children, Trenton, Kingsley, and Rosalie; and her chosen family and lifelong friends.
A memorial service was held on September 26, 2026, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem, 4055 Robinhood Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27106.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem, 4055 Robinhood Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27106; Beacon House, P.O. Box 29629, Washington, DC 20017; or Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, 9601 Cedar Ln, Bethesda, MD 20814.
Notes of condolence may be shared here.