Susana Rabel McNutt

Susana Rabel McNutt is a well-known and accomplished attorney in Dallas, known for her outstanding legal performance and significant involvement in the achievement of State Funeral for World War II Veterans.

Family and Residence

Susana McNutt is married to Lee William Bill McNutt III, the son of a World War II U.S. Veteran. Bill McNutt is the co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley Growth Syndicate Investment Fund in Menlo Park, California, as well as the co-founder and chairman of State Funeral for World War II Veterans.

Susana Rabel McNutt is a mother of 2 children. They are Rabel McNutt and Slone McNutt of Dallas. Rabel McNutt is the co-founder of State Funeral for World War II Veterans. Susana Rabel McNutt lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband Bill McNutt, and their two daughters.

Early Life and Education

Susana was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. Susana McNutt earned a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in Economics, Business and Communications from Randolph Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, before attending Southern Methodist University (SMU) for her law degree. Susana McNutt graduated Law Review and with Honors from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She was accepted into both the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and the Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership and honor society while studying at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. Her law school accomplishments include serving as the SMU Law Review Association's assistant editor. Years later, she would return to academia as an adjunct professor at Dallas' Richland Community College.

Professional Achievements

Attorney Susana Rabel McNutt has more than a decade of experience of work in the legal field.

Susana Rabel McNutt's professional experience includes positions at Dallas law firms including Haynes and Boone, LLP and Rabel Law, PC. She also served as legal counsel for Gold's Gym Franchising, a nationwide fitness club franchise. Ms. McNutt was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1999.

Ms. McNutt most recently worked as franchise counsel for Gold's Gym Franchising in Dallas, Texas. She was in charge of all litigation, collection, and trademark concerns at the fitness center behemoth. Susana McNutt also led a franchise compliance program, ensuring that each franchisee was legally bonded by the state and zealously pursuing delinquent payments from lapsed franchisees.

She worked as an attorney with Dallas-area firms Rabel Law PC and Haynes and Boone, LLP prior to joining Gold's Gym Franchising. She was also an adjunct government professor at Richland Community College.

Her professional affiliations include the nonprofit financial advice firm Dallas Social Venture Partners, as well as the regional leadership training programs Leadership Dallas and Leadership Texas.

Role for State Funeral for World War II Veterans

Susana McNutt, wife of Lee William "Bill" McNutt, and David Valaer were co-chairs of the National Board of State Funerals for World War II Veterans in Texas.

Susana and Valaer raised public awareness in order to persuade the Trump and Biden administrations to hold a state funeral in Washington. D.C. for the final World War II Medal of Honor recipient. Only four of the 473 Medal of Honor recipients from WWII were alive at the beginning of the project.

Susana, Valaer, and the State Funeral for World War II Veterans organization were asking the public to help by signing the Change.org petition.

The mission of State Funeral for World War II Veterans was to convince the President of the United States to designate a state funeral for the last Medal of Honor recipient from World War II as a final salute to the 16 million men and women of the greatest generation who served in our armed forces from 1941 to 1945.

This project was inspired by Susana and Bill McNutt's then 7-year-old daughter Rabel, a then public-school student, in memory of her godfather, Walter Ehlers, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his services during the Battle of Normandy in June 1944.

On July 14, 2022, Mr. Williams was granted a National funeral in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. It was the first time an enlisted soldier laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

“No enlisted man has ever lain in State / Honor under the dome of our nation's capitol in Washington, DC,” said Texas State Chairwomen Susana McNutt. “This was the cornerstone of our effort at State Funeral for World War II Veterans. This oversight was corrected on July 14, 2022, when Woody Williams's coffin was brought into the Capitol’s rotunda.”

Her Motherly Role

Susana Rabel McNutt has been a supportive Mother by encouraging her daughter's idea and assisting her in making that dream a reality.

"I'm very proud of her," Susana McNutt said. "She's a very persistent young lady. It took a very united movement to make this happen."