| Suzanne Rook emphasized the importance of family in her life. She began her speech by talking of her birth, how both her father and mother claimed credit for naming her, as well as her five brothers and a sister. As a child she grew up in the suburbs of New York City, which she characterized as pretty routine. Her mother was from Adams, New York, which also is the birthplace of Bishop Whipple. Suzy commented that one of her earliest claims to fame is a poem she wrote about snow when she was five years old. Snow is fun Snow is white You can play in snow tonight. Suzy moved to Greensboro, NC after high school and spoke about the culture shock she initially felt from moving to the southern United States. She met her husband in Greensboro and earned a degree in graphic arts. Her husband went back to school after being laid off and earned a degree in computer engineering. As the same time, she and her husband were welcoming a growing family, Suzy held a variety of jobs including managing a Chinese restaurant and working for an optometrist. She did not enjoy working for the optometrist and prayed for a new opportunity. Prayers were answered and she eventually applied for a newspaper reporter job and, over the years, steadily increased her responsibilities. Suzy stated that life often throws you curveballs and in the mid-2000s her family faced tragedies from her husband breaking a leg in a bad car accident, losing her father to cancer, and her son being in a catastrophic car accident resulting in him being a quadriplegic. Suzy and her family moved to Minnesota after her husband took a job in the State. She said she really liked Minnesota as it reminded her of the area surrounding her father’s hometown of Syracuse, New York and the upstate New York area. After moving, she applied to be reporter for the Northfield News and later also worked for the newspapers in Waseca and Saint Peter. She then came to Faribault to serve as the editor of the Faribault Daily News. Highlighting the ongoing challenges in the newspaper industry, Suzy said she decided to leave the Daily News and recently took a position at Rice County working on public affairs. Club members appreciated the classification speech and warmly welcomed Suzy. | 
