Susan is a member of St. Johnsbury Rotary, where she serves as club secretary. She is active with the Rotary Learning Institute as North American secretary and regional faculty, treasurer of the Eastern States Student Exchange Program, and is a Past District 7850 Governor. Susan has chaired the district youth exchange program, international service committee, and the speech program with District 7850. She served as aide to Past Rotary International President Jennifer Jones and Rotary Foundation Trustee Marty Helman, conducted the Rotary Zone Choir and helps coordinate the Rotary Zone Mentorship Program.
Susan spoke to us about her “Trip to Istanbul, Turkey: Rotary Peace Conference.” Susan reminded us that that Lebanon Rotary was her first club visit as a DG (District Governor); she is happy to return.
When Rotary International President (RIP) 2024-25 Stephanie A. Urchik held a peace conference in Turkey, Susan felt she needed to attend. While getting ready, she considered several questions: Why would I want to go? What are my passions? What speaks to me about Istanbul?
A bit of Susan’s life:
Mother had twins at age 45: Susan and Sandra. One sister passed away and she had four siblings. Each set of two children were ten years apart. The young twins were mediators. Since her father (worked at US Steel) passed in 1975, Susan’s family has met monthly as a family team, even by Zoom. Her oldest siblings were raised by newly married parents; the next two had workaholic parents, and were raised by nannies, butlers, and maids; Susan and her twin were raised by retired persons. So, her passion became keeping people together.
Susan was a high school exchange student in Switzerland, an experience that helped her realize that building relationships was a gateway toward understanding cultures. She believes that a nuclear family is central to every person’s life. Her experience of her students in school was that those who weren’t connected to a secure nuclear family were those who didn’t have anything to fall back on in time of crisis.
Susan graduated from Westminster Choir College; her introduction to Rotary was singing at a club’s Christmas party. She switched professions to work in restorative justice work after 35 years of teaching music. It was seeking “harmony” that led her there.
Rotary’s Peace in Action:
- Annually Rotarians provide up to 130 fully-funded fellowships for dedicated leaders from around the world.
- Youth Exchange builds peace one young person at a time. This year, we have seven inbound YEX students in D7850. We can make a connection for peace with the Rotary Clubs that sponsor these students to come to the USA.
Sightseeing in Istanbul:
Susan arrived five days before the Peace Conference and stayed five days after the conference. She wanted to achieve a sense of place, of history, of the people. She walked around by herself trying to understand. Here are some places she saw:
- The Blue Mosque—first stop to understand the culture. She joined with women with covered heads in the balcony. Only men and cats are allowed on the first floor. Cats are revered: there are general cat-feeding stations around the City.
- Many mosques were built as churches during Constantine’s empire; they became mosques after the Islamic takeover.
- Taksim Square and hippodrome—Where chariot races were held.
- Hagia Sophia—Was a Christian church first, then was a museum and now an active mosque. Ceiling is the same pattern as a rug Susan bought there.
- Ceiling mosaics were Christian-themed and plastered over after the 1453 Sultan Mehmed conquest that renamed Constantinople to Istanbul. Turkey is now in the process of uncovering them.
- There are stations in mosques where people are passing out pamphlets about unity of all religions, talking, connection.
- Within last five years, specialists have removed plaster covering one of five seraphim.
- Core church Mosaic restoration—This church is not a mosque; it’s still a museum. All of Jesus’s life in mosaic is being uncovered from plaster.
- Susan saw a hand-written copy of the Koran going back to 900-1000 CE.
- She also saw a museum devoted solely to rugs; every shop in the bazaar sold rugs.
- At the Grand Bazaar, Susan saw vendors selling everything. Many are related to others, leading customers from one to the other.
- Susan took a boat ride on the Bosphorus, the body of water that separates Europe from Asia between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, which itself empties into Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Istanbul is located on both sides of the river.
- After visiting the Asian part of Istanbul, Susan got off the train at the station marked “Orient Express”. She had tea at the Pera Paris Hotel built in 1881-91 for Europeans arriving from Paris by train. It was the first building in the Ottoman Empire with electricity.
The Otto and Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center in Istanbul (https://rpc.bau.edu.tr/) is the first Rotary peace center located in the middle east.
Susan thinks a Peace Tree would look really good inside Harmony Park.
Conclusion: Rotary has family for you all around the world. It is our work to do something to achieve world understanding and peace, and we cannot do it alone.
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