Carol “Sue” Walker, born on December 16, 1942, in Henderson, Kentucky, passed away naturally at her residence in Bowling Green on March 19, 2025. Sue was a long time employee of Empire Comfort Systems. Nick Bauer, president of Empire Comfort Systems, Belleville, Illinois, shared the following message with his employees, and asked that his message be shared with other members of the hearth industry.

Team Empire,

I regret to inform you of the passing of Sue Walker. Most of you probably never met Sue since she was based out of Kentucky and was focused on the government affairs side of our business. Sue was a force in our industry. If there was a Mt Rushmore for the fireplace industry, Sue would be on the mountain. I met her many years ago when I was new to the industry, and she worked for our competitor Desa. She was the most sweet, kind and caring person I have ever met even though we were competitors at the time and I was doing everything I could to take market share away from them. Eventually, Desa went out of business and she needed a new manufacturer to work for to continue her work to represent our products on the Vent Free Alliance. It was a no-brainer for us to hire her. She worked for decades to protect the right for us to sell our Vent Free products. She will be greatly missed.

One of her former coworkers at Desa wrote this about her.

To All,
Today is a sad day as I inform you that Sue Walker has passed away.  At her request, no funeral will be conducted.

I will miss Sue, but I’ll also carry fond memories of her.  I know you’ll do the same. — Don Denton