She was born Susan Jacob Clay in Frankfort, Kentucky to Charles Donald Clay and his wife, the former Mariah Hensley Pepper. Susan was raised on her father's thoroughbred farm outside of Lexington, Kentucky and in the strict Victorian homes of her grandmothers. She was a great-granddaughter of Henry Clay and a granddaughter of James Brown Clay. Much of her life she felt a deep ambivalence toward her heritage. On the one hand, she found that legacy a source of pride, satisfaction, and strength. At the same time, she felt constricted and obligated to live up to a name that carried high expectations in her native Bluegrass region of Kentucky. She also chafed under the restrictions placed on women of her class, time, and place.