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Today's Featured Biography

 
Susie Porter Hay

After leaving Southern High I went to "The Women's College of the University of North Carolina" to be a dance major. To do this you had to, also, major in P.E. Since I am basically spastic when it comes to throwing a ball, much less, catching one I soon changed my major to History (one doesn't get hit in the head with a ball if you major in history). After finishing my freshman year I transferred back to the University of Louisville. Encouraged by our minister's wife and Jack Goodykoontz's Mother, Ann Goodykoontz, I went out for rush and became a Chi Omega. It was a wonderful experience. Thank you, Mrs. "G".
In my junior year, after dating half the young men on campus, I started going out with a guy friend of mine, Wayne Hay. The rest is history! We never have figured out what took us so long to get together. After I graduated, we married in 1966 and headed off to New London, Connecticut where Wayne was in submarine school. I substitute taught, but by December we made the second of our thirteen moves to Charleston, South Carolina. Wayne was assigned to the nuclear submarine, Andrew Jackson and I taught high school. We, also, started thinking about a family.
Shortly before moving to Kittery, Maine, we found out we were pregnant and on September 10, 1968 our son Wayne, Jr. was born. Soon we moved back to Charleston and having been an only child I wanted to make sure our son wasn't ; hence Shannon Marie with flaming red hair arrived on April 25, 1970. By this time, my Dad had been diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, and we didn't like the separation involved in Navy life so we headed back to Kentucky in 1970. Wayne went to work for South Central Bell.
We stayed in Louisville for seven years. Daddy passed away in 1974, but he got to enjoy his grandkids for awhile. Besides being a Mom, I took dance lessons, did volunteer work and indulged my hobby passion-needlework. We, also, sold our nice neat house n Jeffersontown and bought a fixer upper in the Highlands. It was a lot of work and got us over the urge to ever buy another old house.
In 1977, we were off to Birmingham, Alabama which turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Because of all the bad Civil Rights publicity, I thought I was going to hell. It turned out to be a beautiful place with beautiful people of all colors. I kept busy with my family and took a couple graduate classes, planning to return to work when the kids left for college, but the dear Lord had other plans for me. In 1981, we found out we were pregnant. Wayne, Jr. was thirteen and Shannon was eleven. After a difficult pregnancy, we had our gorgeous Maggie on February 16, 1982. She truly had two sets of parents and was spoiled rotten by her siblings and all their friends. There never was a dull moment at our house.
In 1986, as our son headed off to Auburn University to become an architect, we got the call to move to Jackson, Tennessee, a lovely small city abut forty miles from Memphis. By then, I was taking math classes and got my certification to teach secondary school mathematics. Shannon graduated from high school and was accepted at Mississippi State where she majored n Special Education. Shannon was off to college as Maggie headed to first grade. As for Wayne and me , we moved to Jackson, Mississippi. While in Mississippi, I taught math for a short time but finally decided my job was to care for this family of corporate gypsies.
By 1991 we moved back to Birmingham; it truly was coming home and that's when we realized these Alabamians had captured our hearts. Our son graduated from Auburn; Shannon graduated from Mississippi State, taught Special Ed and soon married her best guy friend, Andy Anderson-a many generation Mississippi boy with marvelous manners. We were truly blessed to have Andy join the family. Their children always say ,"Yes, Ma'am and Yes, Sir". If you cook them a meal, you are always thanked. By 1994, we welcomed Andrew Bartlett Anderson, Jr. to the clan; I got to be his nanny while Mom and Dad worked. Joy! Joy! Our son who was working in Atlanta found the girl of his dreams - a lovely girl, named Carla Tice- from, can you believe it, Australia. They married, and Carla taught school. During this time we, also moved my Mom to Alabama from Kentucky.
In 1997 we moved to Atlanta. Maggie finished High school and went on to the University of Georgia. While we were in Georgia, Shannon and Andy had our first granddaughter, Hayley Marie in 1999. By then the corporate down-sizing was in full swing and Wayne was given an attractive offer he couldn't refuse. So he retired, and we had to decide where we wanted to be. It took awhile but we decided Alabama was it. We had family and friends there so Wayne, Jr. designed a house, and off we went again. In the meantime Maggie graduated from Georgia and after a year decided to go to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to get Masters degree in accounting . In 2003, Carla and Wayne had a beautiful little boy named Nathan Blaine Hay and decided to move to Australia to be near her parents. It was rough at first, but now we just hop on the plane; fly halfway around the world and visit the kids. We go next month; it will be my tenth trip. They come this way, too. They had our second granddaughter, Skylar Jane, in 2006.
Maggie finished her masters , passed the CPA exam and now works for Southern Company. Last year our dear girl finally found the "right guy" and married Mitch Edwards, an accountant and IT specialist. His family has been in Alabama forever so we have added another southern gentleman to our ranks. We are praying for some more grandkids "soon". My mother who is ninety-five moved in with us two years ago and we have a great time with her.
In late 2010 and early 2011, I began having muscular problems and the doctors could not figure out what was going on. Finally, and almost with a sense of relief I was told I had Parkinson's Disease. There were other worse possibilities, Lou Gehrig's disease, for example. I began treatment and began feeling much better. I take a boatload of medication everyday but am able to lead a normal life. Sometimes I feel so good I forget my meds and the symptoms return. The doctors tell me that I can function a long time and I feel so blessed. All my family and friends are great! It sure makes me appreciate every day and everyone so much more.
God Bless the Southern High Class of 1962; I love all of you!

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