Susan Helen Peterson (1950-2004)

Born: Oc­to­ber 17, 1950, Port An­ge­les, Wash­ing­ton.
Died: Ju­ly 23, 2004, Per­al­ta, New Mex­i­co.

Susan was the se­cond of two girls in the fam­i­ly. Her fa­ther worked for the Na­tion­al Park Ser­vice, so Su­san en­joyed grow­ing up in Na­tion­al Parks and His­tor­ic Sites across Amer­i­ca.

She did her un­der­grad­u­ate work at Stan­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty and earned a BS in ma­the­ma­tics in 1972. The next year she took a one-year grad­u­ate pro­gram at Mult­no­mah School of the Bi­ble in Port­land, Or­e­gon, and re­ceived a Cer­tif­i­cate of Bi­ble up­on com­ple­tion.

She de­cid­ed not to pur­sue a ca­reer in com­put­er sci­ence, as she had orig­in­al­ly in­tend­ed, in­stead em­bark­ing on a ser­ies of jobs in which she honed her of­fice skills and gained some mis­sions ex­per­i­ence. She spent 1976 in Tan­za­nia un­der the Af­ri­ca In­land Mis­sion. Up­on her re­turn, she set­tled in Port­land, Or­e­gon, where she learned word pro­cess­ing and did ed­it­ing and proof­read­ing.

In 1990, Su­san de­cid­ed to go back to school to learn how to work with vi­su­al­ly im­paired and blind adults. She re­ceived her MA in re­hab­il­i­ta­tion teach­ing of the blind from the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Ar­kan­sas at Lit­tle Rock in 1991. She then moved to Fort Col­lins, Col­o­ra­do, where she worked as an ed­it­or and desk­top pub­lish­ing tech­ni­cian for 10 years and did vol­un­teer re­habilita­tion teach­ing in her spare time. Much of Susan’s ed­it­ing and desk­top pub­lish­ing work was on books pro­duced by the Mis­sions Com­miss­ion of World Evan­gel­ic­al Al­li­ance, in­clud­ing Work­ing Your Way to the Na­tions, Too Val­u­a­ble to Lose, Send Me!, Glob­al Mis­si­ol­o­gy for the 21st Cen­tu­ry, and Doing Mem­ber Care Well. She al­so worked part time for Emer­gen­cy World, a com­pa­ny that pro­duc­ed train­ing ma­ter­ia­ls for emer­gen­cy re­sponse per­son­nel. Susan moved back to Or­e­gon in 2002, where she continued the same work she did Col­o­ra­do.

For several years, Susan worked with Wyc­liffe As­so­ci­ates as part of a team that helped key­board Bi­bles and New Tes­ta­ments that were print­ed be­fore the age of com­put­ers and that need­ed to be put in­to elec­tron­ic for­mat, so that they could be up­dat­ed or adapt­ed for other lan­guage­s.

Susan’s ca­reer as a hymn writ­er be­gan in 1997, when she set a goal of writ­ing 100 hymns. Her me­thod was to sel­ect a pass­age of Scrip­ture for each song and then find a hymn tune that seemed to fit the pass­age. She thus com­bined the en­dur­ing Word of God with mel­o­dies that have stood the test of time. Her songs were a bless­ing to her, and she was pleased to be able to share them with others.

Below are Susan’s 100 Lyrics: (The information above and most of the links below are from Cyber Hymnal)

1. Alpha, Omega
2. Ascribe to the Lord Our God
3. Be Now Imitators of Your Lord
4. Be Strong in God
5. Behold, These Words Are Trustworthy and True
6. Blest Are the Poor
7. Blest Is the Man
8. Christ a Blind Man Saw One Day
9. Clothe Yourself With Humility
10. Come and Hear the Words of Jesus
11. Come unto Me Here
12. Count It Joy
13. Cursed Is the One Who Trusts in Man
14. Do Not Be Surprised
15. Do Not Worry – Here
16. Earth Belongs to the Lord, The
17. Everyone Should Be Quick to Listen
18. Faith Means We’re Sure
19. Faith of Our Brothers
20. For unto Us a Child Is Born
21. Give Thanks to God the Lord
22. God, Keep Me Safe
23. God Most High, We Praise You
24. God, the Blessed and Only Ruler
25. God the Lord Does Ask
26. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! Here
27. He Has Given Us His Promises
28. Hear Now My Praise, O Lord
29. Ho­ly, Ho­ly, Lord God Almighty
30. How Can I, Lord, Keep My Way Pure?
31. How Good It Is, Lord
32. How Great the Love
33. How Ma­ny Are Your Works, Lord – Here
34. I Am the Lord, Your God
35. I Am the Vine
36. I Extol You, O Lord
37. I Kneel Before You, Lord
38. I Praise You, Lord
39. If Any Person Is in Christ
40. If You Love Me
41. If You Would Come After Me
42. In You, O Lord, I Put My Trust
43. It Is Good to Praise the Almighty
44. Jesus, the Good Shepherd
45. Jonah
46. Just Trust in Me
47. The Kingdom of Your Heavenly Father
48. Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled
49. Let Your Mindset Be the Same
50. Live With Each Other in Love
51. Lord, I Extol Your Name
52. Lord, We Come and Offer Praise
53. Lord, You Have Been Our Dwelling
54. Lord, You Have Searched Me
55. Lord, You’ve Called Us As Your Servants
56. Love Must Be Sincere and Honest
57. Lovely, O Lord, Is Your Dwelling Place
58. Majestic Is Your Name
59. Man Named Nicodemus, A
60. My God, in Whom I Trust Here
61. My Light and My Salva­tion
62. My Soul Finds Rest in God Alone
63. Now Let Us Love Each Other
64. Now That You’ve Tasted
65. O Come, Let Us Sing
66. O God, You Are My God
67. O Lord, Life Is Sac­red
68. O Lord, You Reign O’er Earth and Sea
69. O Lord, You’re My Shepherd
70. O May All the Peoples Praise You
71. O Shout for Joy
72. Oh, How Majestic and Glorious
73. Oh, the Depth of God’s Wisdom
74. One Day There’ll Be New Earth and Heaven
75. One Named Lazarus
76. Praise Be Unto Our God Ephesians
77. Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him
78. Praise, O Servants of the Lord
79. Praise the Lord, My Soul, O Praise Him
80. Put Off Your Old Self Wholly
81. Rejoice in God
82. Savior, Like a Shepherd
83. Since Through God’s Mercy
84. Since We Are Now Surrounded
85. Since We Have Confidence
86. Sing to the Lord
87. Sing With Joy
88. This God’s Our God
89. Though I Speak
90. To Whom Will You Compare God?
91. Trust in the Lord With All Your Heart
92. Unto You I Lift My Soul Up
93. Up to the Hills I Look
94. We Now Have Peace With God
95. We Thank You, Lord
96. Wedding Took Place, A
97. Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant
98. What Good Can Come?
99. What Shall We Say?
100. Where Can One Look for Wisdom?