I had the pleasure of
catching up with and learning about one of our classmates since our days at WHS,
Susan Mccaulay. Susan has been very successful as a musician and lawyer.
Please read on!
After high school, Susan
attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano. Susan had
always thought she would pursue a career in classical music, but as the saying
goes, “Humans plan. God laughs.” When Susan graduated from Oberlin in 1974,
about the only thing she could do with a music degree was to go get another
music degree – a Masters or a Ph.D. – but she was kind of burned out after four
years of practicing three to four hours a day. Susan decided to take a year off
before going on with her musical training.
Somehow, that year turned
into six, and instead of attending graduate school in music, Susan ended up as a
law student at Loyola U. of Chicago School of Law. She put herself through law
school working as a computer programmer – you didn’t need a degree in computer
science back then, and being able to type fast really helped - and went to work
as an attorney for the Burroughs Corporation (now part of Unisys) right after
law school.
The ‘80s were an intense
time in the world of corporate law, and Susan became more and more involved in
the financing aspects of the work she was doing. She eventually took the leap
into the world of financial services law, and joined a large commercial finance
company now owned by GE Capital. She also got her Master of Laws in Financial
Services law, as well as a Master of Liberal Arts degree in the Humanities from
the University of Chicago, going to school at night and working during the
day. Susan knew by then that she would likely never return to music as a
profession, but she did continue to perform with a local orchestra, playing an
occasional piano concerto and filling in any gaps in the percussion section,
teaching a piano lesson now and then, accompanying soloists, and playing
keyboards in a band for several years.
By the mid-‘90s, Susan had
landed at the Chicago office of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, a New
York-based mega-law firm. It was a great place to work from a professional
standpoint. She got to work on deals you’ve probably read about in the paper,
the largest of which involved the sale of assets to the tune of just over $2
billion. Susan also had a number of opportunities to travel, both on business
and for pleasure, and over a period of about 15 years, she was able to visit
every continent except Antarctica. Susan continued with her music whenever she
had the chance.
In 1992, Susan heard from a
friend that in China there were thousands of baby girls who were being
abandoned, or worse, solely because they were girls due to China’s one-child
policy. Susan had always wanted a family, but had been so busy for so long with
her career and travels and music that she hadn’t paid a lot of attention to when
or how that was going to happen. When she heard about the situation in China,
however, she knew right then and there that she would adopt a baby girl from
China, whether or not she ever had a biological child of her own.
Several years later, Susan
was ready, and went through the application process, which involved a mountain
of paperwork, interviews, home studies, more paperwork, and what seemed like
endless periods of waiting. Finally, she received word that the Chinese
government had approved her and was offering her the opportunity to adopt an
adorable toddler who was living with a foster family in Jiangxi Province. Susan
couldn’t say yes fast enough. In late February 2000, she left for China, and on
March 5, she met her daughter for the very first time, in a dingy hotel room in
Nanchang – her very own baby girl, who she named Lauren. She changed Susan’s
life forever. As soon as they got back to the United States, Susan switched her
status at her law firm to part-time (meaning she ONLY had to work 40 hours a
week), and began her application to adopt another baby girl from China.
In 2001, Susan moved to a
mid-size Chicago firm, where the travel was less and the hours more reasonable,
and soon got the call she’d been waiting for. Her second daughter was a
chubby-cheeked baby girl named “Ocean Jade,” who was living in an orphanage in
Hunan Province, which is immediately to the west of where her older daughter was
from. Her younger daughter, who she named Anna, was placed in her arms on March
10, 2002, this time in a hotel elevator lobby in a city called Changsha. Her
daughter Lauren, who was then 3-1/2, was there with Susan to welcome her.
Time has flown by since
then. Susan eventually left big-firm life to hang out her shingle so that she
could spend as much time with her girls as possible. Susan’s solo practice grew
beyond her ability to manage it alone, so earlier this year she joined the firm
of Culhane Meadows. Fortunately, it’s a cloud-based firm, so she still gets to
work from home most of the time.
Susan’s daughters are the
light of her life. Lauren is now 16, and will be getting her drivers license
next week (gulp). She is an artist as well as a musician, and played competitive
volleyball (made the Freshman A team) up until the year, when the time
commitment got to be too much. Her younger daughter Anna is in an academically
gifted program, and is a talented writer, having already won several awards for
her short stories. She is also an accomplished gymnast. Susan still considers
herself a musician, but she doesn’t perform as much anymore. Time is definitely
at a premium.
Susan says WHS seems so
long ago in some ways, but not in others. Up until her parents died in late 2009
and early 2010, Susan and her daughters came to Woodbridge 4-6 times a year, and
she always had fun showing her kids the house on Grady Drive where she lived
until her family moved to High Street in 1962, the schools she’d attended
(although she was saddened to find that there was nothing left of Strawberry
Hill), the Woodbridge Pond where she skated, places she’d held summer jobs, the
Big White Church. Loretta Keating and Susan are still friends, and see each
other whenever they can, although they live 800 miles apart. And mostly through
her, Susan still keeps up with Betsy Trautwein and Susan Baumgartner Elbin.
We contacted Loretta
Keating for her thoughts on her long time friendship with Susan. Susan and
Loretta met when her family moved to High Street at the end of 1962. It did not
take Loretta very long to figure out that she was extraordinary. She could
play anything and everything on the piano. In the sixth grade, she was so far
ahead in reading that she was her own one-person reading group. She could play
Bridge. You get the picture. But she rarely talked about herself, and the thing
I remember most about the time we spent together is how much we laughed.
Sometimes we would laugh so hard neither of us could talk. And we have continued
to laugh a lot throughout the years. I treasure our friendship, which now
includes her lovely daughters, and I think it might be about time for a visit to
Illinois!
In talking with Susan, I
asked if she had any regrets. Susan immediately answered that she did not
because what she did at the time was exactly what she wanted to do. Susan tries
to instill in her daughters the same idea. She encourages them to look at the
whole person, not what you see on the outside. She loved physics with Doc Lane
and participating in our WHS Band. Susan hasn’t made it to a reunion yet, and
unfortunately can’t come this year either, but there’s always the
50th! She would love to have a picnic in Merrill Park next time, like
the ones the Woodbridge Fire Dept. used to have every summer. Susan never, ever
gets dressed up any more, so a picnic is what she wants! (A girl after my own
heart in that I also hate to get dressed in anything more than jeans!!!)
Susan, thank you for taking
the time to talk with me and for allowing us to profile another WHS 1970
graduate. Your success has been amazing and we are all glad you have found
such happiness. Hope to see you at the 50th!
