Bruce Grossman

I did not know Sue but I know she was our Valedictorian,with Lee Weiss pouting about beng second

Nancy Sharon Griffiths (Strom)

Hi all.  Thought I could clear this up for you.  I saved my Commencement Program.  Lee Weiss was Valedictorian and Sue was Salutatorian.  Class Speaker was Donn Pearlman.  Hope this helps.  She was a lovely person and every name in the "In Memory" section hurts the heart.

Allan Norman Karlin

I have often wondered what happened to Sue.  She was incredibly smart, but so quiet one did not always recognize that fact.  If I could go back in time, she is definitely one of the persons I would want to know better.  So much was going on in all our heads back then and, quite often, so little was shared. 

Sue was also tough.  Sue, Jim Futransky and I represented Niles West on "It's Academic."  As I recall, we won a couple of matches before losing to New Trier in the third TV show.  She represented the school well in a competition that required mental toughness as well as smarts. 

I definitely recall being told that Mrs. Rice gave Sue a low grade to prevent her from being validictorian.  I do not know if that was true, but, knowing Mrs. Rice, it was certainly credible.

David Steinberg (Noel)

Didn't Jimi Hendrix record,

"ARE YOU CREDIBLE"?

Peace and love be with  you, Susan

David Steinberg

Carolyn Ruth Alport (Spier)

I happened to look Sue up on Google at one point and was so sad to find out that she had recently died.  I remember her as my best friend.  Unfortunately, we didn’t stay in contact much after high school, though I visited her at Oberlin once.  I remember that we went on a bird walk with a professor who introduced me to the wonders of being able to identify birds by sound. 

I found her obituary, pasted below http://www.uurmapa.org/obituaries_g.html :

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Susan Leslie Grigg, PhD, 59, wife of the Rev. Justin G.G. Kahn, Sr., died 5 May 2007 at the Mayo Clinic of complications from lymphoma. Born in Chicago, she was the only daughter of the late Wallace and Loretta (Mittman) Grigg. She graduated from Oberlin College and earned an MA and PhD in American History from the University of Wisconsin. She later completed her MLIS at Simmons College.

She began her career as an archivist at Yale University. She was then appointed Assistant Professor and Curator of the Immigration History Collection at the University of Minnesota; next she became head of the Sophia Smith Collection and served as College Archivist at Smith College.  Since 1996 she had been head of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections at the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a joint appointment as Professor of Library Science and Northern Studies; she had also served as Acting Director of Libraries and Interim Dean of Libraries.

She was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists, in recognition of distinguished service to the profession, and was a longtime Certified Archivist, having served on the committee that developed standards for certification. She also served many years on the SAA Editorial Board, chairing it for four years. She was a board member of the Alaska Historical Society, Vice President of the Alaska Library Association, and member of the gubernatorially-appointed Alaska State Historical Records Advisory Board.  She developed and led the statewide program to present Alaska historical images online (VILDA). 

Her dissertation on the dependent poor of Newburyport, MA before 1860 was published, and she contributed the section on managing archival collections to the standard handbook for college library administration. She published numerous journal articles and reviews in history and library administration and made frequent presentations at professional and scholarly conferences. She was an editor and contributor to the Oxford American National Biography and was a reviewer several times on national panels for National Endowment for the Humanities grants.

Dr. Grigg is survived by her husband; three stepchildren: J. Giles G. Kahn, Jr. of Wheaton IL; Tempe R.K. Vierck and husband, Benjamin, of Ballwin MO; and Peter R.T. Kahn of Olivette, MO. She was also survived by three stepgrandchildren, Rebecca Reeve Vierck, Douglas Alexander Vierck, and Magnus Oliver Vierck, all of Ballwin; and three cousins in Ohio.

Elaine Anita Neubauer (Lampert)

I didn't know Sue very well, but we were in a class together and one day she invited me over to her house. She showed me her afghan hounds and we had a lovely afternoon together. I always remembered her and those dogs and wondered what had happened to her over the years. Sorry to hear of her passing.

Douglas Lipman (Lipman)

Carolyn,

Thanks so much for posting Sue Grigg's obituary. For some reason, I just came upon it now.

I was very pleased to read the obituary because it filled in many things I hadn't known about her adult life, including her published book and several of her other accomplishments.

I'd recommend the obituary to any who are curious about Sue's life and accomplishments.

Here's the photo that was part of the obituary. I like it because it lets me see more of who she became.

Douglas Lipman (Lipman)

Oh, here's the cover of her book. I just feel the desire to make her adult life more tangible, especially because none of us knew her well during those years.

Doug

Donn Pearlman

Thank you for posting the background information about Susan.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Thanks too for posting Susan's photo. I agree, it lets us see more of who she became. Susan's photo captures my imagination.