Susan Byers

Left VCU junior year (sick)(again) and went back in '75 to complete a BFA (interior design, not my best decision). Got married, worked as an interior designer then display artist in Richmond, got divorced and lucked into a job as a writer & graphic artist with the government in DC for the next 25 years. Met and married (1990) my best friend and we adopted 4 kids (US, China and Viet Nam) and an ever-changing collection of critters. Last worked as a program manager for the Office of Women's Business Ownership at the Small Business Administration, overseeing grants to 28 women's business centers in New England and the Southeast. Lost my parents in 2011 and 2013, so no reason to stick around. Bought and renovated a fifth wheel and set out to see the country for a couple of years. Nine months in, COVID hit ... so we headed north to look for a new home base. We found an 1832 farmhouse in the rolling hills outside Syracuse, NY, and are renovating the house as well as two smaller buildings on the property (guesthouse and studio).

Lived in Richmond for 10 years, but returned in 1985. Hit yhe road in 2019, and now live outside Syracuse. But family is still in the DC area, so we'll try to get back every year or so. Our kids are scattered--Manhattan, Fairfax, Harrisonburg and Jacksonville.

I've been in touch with a few and bumped into a few, but since reconnecting a few years ago, have mostly stayed in touch with Scott Ainslie, who's a remarkable and respected performer of and teacher about Delta Blues, and Sharon Evans. Have visited him, Mike Dresser, Ed Tittel and WC Frome. I'm also on facebook with Rita Fox, (teacher), Karie Gates and Betsy Baretta, but would be happy to be friended by more! And I recently found Mary Ellen Hanthorne (she left before senior year).

I'm not sure anybody would be surprised at anything about me. Maybe that I ended up working for the government for 30 years ... sure surprised me!

My years at Ft. Hunt were some of the best of my life. I never felt a connection to VCU; my alma mater is FHHS. Walking those halls when the first kid started there (junior high) brought back such a rush of wonderful memories ... and tears. Thanks, guys. We had something special ...

Embarrassing moment--when I refused to believe Mr Bonano was really a teacher (he looked SO young!).

Fave hangout: backstage, folk club & the Swiggards'.

Favorite teachers: Rita Fox, art teacher and friend; Ed Gassek, teacher, mentor, friend, life-changer; Mr. Hessler, who made earth science cool and taught me to read a topo map, which enabled me to locate my fifth-great grandparents' farm in Kentucky; John Patrick Dingle, who was so cute and so hip (that long hair and those round wire rims!) and kept even me interested in government; Mrs. Roussos, who made biology really interesting; Sally Wilson, who told me I could be a good writer if I worked at it. It took awhile, Mrs. Wilson, but I did okay!

Believe in myself, work harder at things I wasn't so good at, actually read Gilgamesh (or was it The Nibelungenlied? Whichever it was I was supposed to compare to The Odyssey ...). Sing.