The Message of the Music

Named Cheryl Susanne and immediately called Susy, to her everlasting form-filling-out frustration, her birth in California on August 8, 1945, was perfectly placed between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Her family was grieving both a grandfather’s and an uncle’s death; she was the anodyne. Her mother read poetry to her nightly and taught her to read at 4. Her parents complained she always had her nose in a book. Two brothers became her charge in quick succession, and at the age of 12, she became co-mom for her new twin brothers. A big family meant busy years. She graduated college cum laude in 1966 and began a kaleidoscopic progression through schools, careers, marriages, and divorces. She became a single mother in 1974 when her daughter, Elspeth, was born. Her mother died in 1975 and Susanne moved to Chicago to find a faith community in which to raise her child. In 1986 she began a spiritual companionship course, certified in May 1988, and continued her study at Loyola University Chicago’s Institute of Pastoral Studies. There she met and married her best friend, Vincent Donoghue, with her community’s blessing. They received their masters' together at Loyola in 1990 and became grateful grandparents in 1994 (Shoshanna) and 1999 (Amber). In 1997, she, her husband, and Penny and David Lukens, with their faith community, Reba Place Fellowship, started Ten Thousand Villages in Evanston (Illinois), a fair trade store. Susanne became manager of the store, learning everything she could about retail and volunteer management and about the artisans whose lives they were supporting in more than 30 countries. She made three informational journeys to South America and Asia during those years, making many new friends. In 2008, Susanne and Vincent started their own small fair trade business called ¡Gracias! They retired to Ecuador in 2016 after volunteering there with Minga Fair Trade. ¡Gracias! closed in 2021. Susanne is the author of four books of poetry: Meditations for Single Moms, (Herald Press, 1991), Transcendent Joy, Come Home to Love, and Rock Solid Woman. She publishes in AllPoetry.com online and actively participates in several writers’ groups.