HIGHLIGHT: Susan Schilling interviewed by Gregg Johnson
Susan Schilling has been married to Mike Schilling for nearly forty-three years. They both went to the same high school in Florissant, Missouri but didn’t really know each other. They both enjoyed singing in the school choir and performed in the play “Music Man”. Sue participated in the chorus while Mike performed in a quartet. Michael also was a staff member of the school newspaper called The Scoop.
Sue first became acquainted with Mike when the young man asked out Sue’s locker partner on a date. The two, Sue and Mike, were also in close proximity when he taught guitar lessons and Sue participated in music lessons. Just before Sue left high school to attend Ricks College, she encountered Mike leaving his guitar lesson and spoke a causal “hi”. That special “hi” transformed into a correspondence by snail mail while Sue attended college from 1966 thru 1969.
During this time Mike attended West Point. Just before attending the military school, Mike’s appendix ruptured. He was healing from the episode while attending school. He lasted nearly one year before receiving permission to leave and begin a six month stint in the Army Reserves as a laundry sergeant in Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville studying computer science. Mike again transferred to the University of Missouri at Raleigh where he graduated as a member of the first graduating class of the computer science department for that time (seems to be a big deal). While Mike was attending his final school (U of M), Sue was working for the chairman of the Ceramic Engineering Department (very prestigious).
Back when Sue was attending Ricks College and they were both writing to each other, Mike met with missionaries for at least six separate times in three years and was finally baptized. One year later, the handsome couple was married. Since Mike now was the only Mormon of his immediate family and there was anti-Mormon sentiments, the young couple got special permission from the First Presidency (David O Mckay) to be married civilly on December 18th 1969 in Missouri and fly to Salt Lake City to marry in the temple the next day, December 19th.
Sue’s hobby currently consists of raising Davin (her grandson). She has been a mortgage specialist for twenty years (fourteen of those years working with Paul Rockwood). Sue has an inner wish to one day learn to paint artistically. When she was nine years old, Susan was able to shake the hand of David O Mckay while he was visiting his brothers’ ward.
The Schillings are friendly people from Missouri who have lived in Denver Colorado since 1979. Thanks for all you do.
See Sue’s profile at http://mormon.org/me/51CP/
I enjoyed reading that, thanks!
ReplyDelete