OLLI at TTU, Abilene Volunteer Feature: Susan Robinson

By Daniel Johnson, Section Manager

Susan Robinson is a staple in the Abilene community and at OLLI at TTU, Abilene. What some people do not know is that she played a crucial role in getting OLLI at TTU to the city of Abilene.

Susan was born and raised in Lubbock and graduated from Monterey High School and Texas Tech University. It was at Texas Tech where she met her husband, and after graduation in 1970, they decided to settle in Abilene. Susan spent some time working in television and radio, but it was at First Financial Bank where she found her true calling. Susan worked as a Community Reinvestment Act (C.R.A.) officer and training director for 20 years. After retirement in 2013, Susan was looking for things to keep her busy and keep her mind active.

"A friend of mine who worked at First Financial with me and who was also a Texas Tech graduate left the bank and moved to Lubbock. She came back to Abilene and asked what I had been doing," said Susan. "I was doing some things here and there but nothing that I could say were stimulating as far as brain work. My friend said I needed to come to Lubbock and go to the OLLI classes. That was the first I ever heard of OLLI."

After doing some research Susan knew she wanted to become an OLLI member. The only issue was that Susan lived in Abilene and knew that it would not be ideal to travel five hours round trip to attend a course in Lubbock.

"I loved the idea, and after looking at the Lubbock catalog and seeing everything that Lubbock did, I thought, wow we need this here. We could do this!"

Susan, along with a few others, did some investigating into OLLI and the process it would take to get the program in Abilene.

"I had met for lunch with Phil Wicker, who was at TTUHSC Abilene at the time, and we just picked up the phone and called OLLI director, Shelby Crews," Susan said. "It was kind of fortuitous because Shelby mentioned how they were looking at Abilene as one of their next chapters."

From there, things began to move very quickly. Susan, along with her friend Janet Payne, started as co-chairs of the OLLI at TTU, Abilene board. For close to a year the new board, made up of Susan, Janet and seven or eight other board members, worked diligently with Shelby and Associate Director Otto Ratheal to get the OLLI program up and running in Abilene.

Taking on this responsibility meant Susan would need to wear many different hats to ensure the program's launch was a success.

"We were trying to recruit members, we were working to get the word out and do a little marketing, as well as trying to set up classes by getting the presenters and instructors," says Susan.

"It was very intense pretty much up until this year when Misha (Price) was hired as OLLI at TTU, Abilene coordinator. Now that Misha is on board, I can kick back and let it all come together."

While there are many things Susan has enjoyed along this journey with OLLI at TTU, Abilene it is the people and community of Abilene that she has enjoyed the most.

"The people I am working with, the members here are really special. I have met so many new people and I have reconnected with friends that I had not seen in a long time," she said. "I have been very active in the community for over 40 years, but this is kind of a different take on community involvement."

Susan says she also enjoys getting to meet different local businesspeople and college instructors of all aspects of the community who can teach the OLLI group something new.

"I just think it's such a terrific experience to see what's out there for us in our community. You go along in your career life, doing what you do for your job or raising kids, and that academic or educational part of your life sometimes slips away. To be able to get back into that and experience some collegiate-level kind of classes or even just the community happenings is very important."

Susan understands the importance of these classes and community events to her and other OLLI members 50 years of age and older.

"All these experiences are just stimulating and keep your brain going and moving, and they say that is the secret to being productive in old age, is to keep your brain productive."