Sylvia Margaret Sultenfuss

Sylvia Reuter Sultenfuss never stopped living her mission of love and never stopped believing in our power to create miracles in this world. She believed that each and every human being has the capacity to transform their world. Sylvia’s role and life’s work were to facilitate that transformation. Consequently she spent her lifetime working with individuals, with organizations and communities and working with countries in transforming and improving the human condition.

Sylvia passed away on Christmas Day, 2019. She lived with the utmost grace and dignity until she was no longer able to draw a breath. She was born to Leo and Margaret (Langenfeld) Reuter on July 12, 1944 in Hastings, Minnesota. Sylvia is preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Sister Evangeline (Elaine), OSB; and her brothers, Roger and James and ex-husband, Michael Sultenfuss. She is survived by her son, Eric (Friday) Shamblen; and her siblings; Sister Mary, OSB; Rosalie (Kenneth) Klimisch; Larry; Chuck (Debbie); and Doug (Sandy), along with many nieces and nephews.

Although ALS took its final toll on Sylvia’s life at age 75, those 75 years were filled to overflowing. In her work with Global Health Action (GHA) formerly INSA, she traveled the world to serve as a human relations trainer and communications coach for transforming health care delivery in underserved areas. As a member of the board of directors for GHA and through her program training skills, focused on collaboration and conflict resolution, she was able to impact the lives of thousands of leaders from 97 countries. Sylvia was a pioneer in the field of holistic health care when she opened the Center for Life in the 1980’s. She was an educator at Emory University School of Nursing and served as one of the first clinical nurse specialists at Emory Hospital with the unique role of supporting both the patients and the staff. Sylvia was a member of and served on the Board of Directors of Georgia Nursing Association for over 20 years. In her almost 40 years of private counseling/coaching practice Sylvia used her skills as a powerful intuitive listener, incorporating the rational and metaphysical, to help people discover their gifts and talents and live consistently with their life principles and destiny. Sylvia was a prolific writer and author, as well as, a powerful speaker. Although she held many professional roles in her life, the greatest gifts that undergirded all of her work were her unconditional love and her desire to make this world a better place, one person at a time. As one friend wrote after Sylvia passed,

No one has touched my life like she has—to quote the writer Leonard Cohen: “I’m not looking for another, as I wander through my time . . .

I could never find another if I did. “

A Celebration of Life in honor of Sylvia will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 2:30 PM at Floral Hills Funeral and Cremation Services in Tucker, GA. A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, please contact [email protected] for a list of Sylvia’s favorite charities.