Shop for a Cause - Junior League of Evansville

6 December 2006/January 2007
Volunteer Spark Lights up the Town
Written by Melissa Wagner
“Mirror, mirror on the wall; I’ve become my mother after all”.
Some daughters cringe at the thought of
following in their mother’s footsteps;
however, Suzanne A. Nicholson,
Sustainer, is definitely a woman who
embraced the concept. In 1941-42,
Susie’s mother, Peg Atkinson, became the
11 th president of the Junior Service
League (now the Junior League of
Evansville). Susie was just five at the time,
and her sister was two. As she was
growing up, dinner conversations at the
Atkinson home revolved around
volunteerism. Her mother’s passions were
JLE and the Evansville Philharmonic
Orchestra. Her father worked tirelessly
for the Community Chest, now known as the United Way. Susie was
like a sponge, absorbing the community spirit of these dinnertime
chats and associating with League functions at an early age. She
eventually became a Cigarette Girl (aka Charity Belle) in her teen years.
By the time she graduated from college, her volunteer spark was lit, and
she was ready to jump in and volunteer with the Junior League of
Evansville. In 1974-75 Susie served as the league’s president, creating
JLE’s only mother-daughter president duo.
Susie holds many other distinctions within our League. She was the
first office manager which was a volunteer position at the time. While
serving as office manager, she set up the League office from scratch.
This allowed the League to be more organized and to have a central
location for information. Susie also holds the record for most active
years in the League. She was an active for 20 years, serving as president
during her 17 th League year! She joined as a provisional in 1958 and
became a sustainer in 1978. When asked about her long active career,
she stated, “I thrived on the League. Opportunities were enormous
then for stay-at-home moms. We became professional volunteers.” As
you can imagine, she held many positions within the League during
her long service. One of her committees was By-Laws, and the mission
of the League for the year during which she served was to do a total
revamp of the By-Laws. Her other committee placements included
Admissions, Study and Development, Charity Ball, Ice Skating Rink
Liaison, Public Relations, Provisional Chair, to Treasurer to name a
few.
It was at an Association of Junior League regional conference during
Susie’s vice-presidency in 1974 in Columbus, Ohio that sparked an
idea. She attended a session presented by the Executive Director of
Leadership Atlanta. They had recently lost a number of civic leaders in
an airplane crash and needed to develop new leadership. She learned
how participants were taught community needs and given the
opportunity to meet Atlanta’s current leaders. After her JLE presidency,
Susie organized and chaired a committee to start Leadership Evansville.
The first Leadership Evansville class began in 1976, and LE is currently
celebrating its 30 th anniversary. Leadership Evansville was only the third
organization in the nation of its kind. The Leadership Evansville
organizing committee included the mayor, superintendent of schools,
heads of both the Chamber of Commerce and the Teamsters Union,
and presidents of USI and UE. Susie went on to serve as Leadership
Evansville’s first president. Each year, JLE sends our current President
to the Leadership Evansville class. To think, an idea from a JLE
member being trained in leadership comes full circle as the
organization she helped establish leads our current leadership along
with hundreds of others in corporate and volunteer arenas in the city.
“The League laid the groundwork and training for every position both
volunteer and professional that I have had,” Susie stated. Remember
the committee she chaired to establish Leadership Evansville David
Rice, past president of USI, was a member of that committee. Susie’s
talents and skills were apparent, and he recruited her to the position of
USI’s Director of University Development and President of USI
Foundation. Her fundraising talents learned through the League were
put to use as she grew the USI Foundation assets from $600,000 to
$60 million during her 20 years. She recently retired and was honored
as USI Foundation President Emerita.
Since her active years in the League, she has turned her volunteer
efforts to several organizations. She feels very strongly about the
Philharmonic, as her mother once did, and is helping revitalize its
development efforts. She also sits as president over her aunt’s
foundation, the Martha and Merritt deJong Foundation. The
Foundation is a charitable trust which has underwritten the
Philharmonic’s opening classics concert and the Museum’s artist-inresidence
program for the past 13 years.
Politics also is in her blood. She was on the City Council for 10 years
beginning during Mayor Russ Lloyd Sr.’s term. At that time she was
one of only nine women on city councils in the State of Indiana.
During Mayor Russ Lloyd Jr.’s term, she was appointed to the Water
and Sewer Utility Board, serving as its first woman president. She
currently chairs the Burdette Park Advisory Board, an appointment by
the Vanderburgh County Commissioners.
Since retiring from USI in August, Susie is settling into her new
lifestyle. She recently vacationed in Greece and Italy for three weeks to
help ease the transition. She was named one of 10 Athena Award
finalists. She is a member of the Downtown Evansville Rotary Club
and a member and trustee at First Presbyterian Church.
Susie is a native of Evansville and a graduate of Bosse High School. She
received a B.A. in Economics from Smith College in Northampton,
Massachusetts. She married Horace Nicholson Jr. in 1959. Nick passed
away in 2004, three weeks after she lost her sister, Peggy. Nick and
Susie had two children. Her son, Eric, is currently relocating to
Nashville, Tennessee from Ohio in his new position with Faultless
Caster. Her son, Chris, is a cardiologist in Richmond, Virginia. She
enjoys her five granddaughters.
“It has been thrilling to watch the JLE evolve over the years since I
went sustainer, continuing its efforts to spearhead solutions to
community needs,” Susie stated. As I reflect on Susie’s
accomplishments, I continue to be amazed at the many areas of our
city that our sustainers have touched. What would our city be like
without our many members When the current actives in the League
look back 30 years from now, what will be said about the changes we
have made through JLE Susie has certainly set the bar very high for all
of us!