By Darby Fetzer
We all knew when Sue Moore left this earth she would leave a big hole. We will miss her as editor and chief of the South County News, we’ll miss her as a positive community leader and community advocate, and we’ll miss her as our friend.
Sue was omnipresent … she was everywhere all the time reporting on local news. When I attended a board meeting or community event, I found her presence comforting. She was a friend in the room with a warm, supportive smile and a happy twinkle in her eye.
In her reporting, you could always count on Sue to cover a story with fairness and a positive, community-building approach. Her mere attendance at a function pulled people together. Sue was clear in her personal and professional intention: fortify, enrich, and grow local communities. She achieved that through supporting education, the arts, local businesses, municipalities, and people.
For the last year, I was blessed to enjoy a monthly luncheon with Sue and four other community-minded women. We called ourselves the “Wild Women.” This lunch was scheduled a day after the paper went to print. This was when Sue could finally take a breath. We thoroughly enjoyed this rich time of scintillating discussion around the topics of the paper, local politics, and our personal lives. We were aptly called the “Wild Women” as our table would often erupt in laughter. Martell’s restaurant finally got smart by seating us in a corner all to ourselves.
It’s been nearly a month since Sue’s passing. I still can’t quite believe it. She’s done so much for Vicksburg, Schoolcraft and South County in print and simply through being herself.
Perhaps we could all be just a bit more loving and generous of spirit as we connect with our community members; maybe then, Sue’s spirit can live on in all of us.