Sue's Bio

     

In December of 1992, Sue was a Special Agent of the FBI in the San Francisco Division.  When her daughter Jamie was born, Sue took a few months off to enjoy motherhood and lots of hilly walks.  She also took out her guitar and sang and played for Jamie.  She sang songs she remembered from when she was a child, songs from youth group, and lots of folk songs.  In fall 1993 after 13 years as an agent, Sue decided to turn in her badge and move to Boulder, Colorado with her husband and Jamie.  She also decided she wanted to go "back to music" and start a children's music business.  That was great news to Sue's Mom, a former librarian, because when she was in high school and college Sue had sung at her Mom's library in Malden, Massachusetts.

In the summer of 1994, after a lot of research and practice, Sue contacted local preschools and began doing shows.  In September 1994, soon after the birth of Becky, Sue began teaching a music and movement class one evening a week at Parenting Place in Boulder.  After a few months she added a day class and then more classes, and became known as "the music lady", "Miss Sue", "the music teacher", and of course, "Jamie and Becky's Mom".

Sue became well known throughout the Boulder-Denver area as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and teacher who specialized in music for young children and their families.  She was the founder and director of Boulder County's Community Music School, a non-profit organization which offered classes, concerts, and other programs for infants, and children through age eight.

In June 2012, Sue moved to Carbondale, CO, and began a career as a librarian with Garfield County Libraries. She worked in youth services and then was promoted to one of her favorite jobs, branch manager for the Glenwood Spring Branch. While with Garfield County Libraries, Sue created a lending library of ukuleles and acoustic guitars. She also led ukulele and songwriting groups for the library system. At the end of 2016, she moved to Memphis Public Library where she again worked in youth services and then as Assistant Director for Outreach and Special Projects. Sue was an active member of the Memphis Ukulele FlashMob (MUFM) and the group donated 30 ukuleles to the library system. Sue and MUFM members taught ukulele classes and workshops and performed at several of system's libraries. During the pandemic, Memphis Public Libraries provided online ukulele classes and concerts, featuring ukulele players from around the US and one from the UK. Sue also recorded several sing along videos for children.

In June 2021, she moved to Kingman AZ to downsize and prepare for retirement. While in Kingman she worked in youth services for the Mohave County Library system where she, you guessed it, added ukuleles to the library collection, taught ukulele classes, recorded a few sing along and storytime videos, and did weekly in person storytimes.

After visiting Prescott AZ, she decided to retire and is now an active member of the Prescott Ukulele Guild and hitting the open mic scene. She is quite excited to have the time to play and sing for kids and grown-ups as much as they will let her!