"When I moved here initially, there was a question in my mind of what I would end up doing in Salem," she recalls. Sue's involvement soon included her neighborhood association, the city’s Downtown Development Board, and a variety of civic and social organizations. After giving birth to two more children, she spent many hours volunteering in neighborhood schools and transporting children to activities.

In 1977 Sue accepted a job-sharing position as a planner in the Oregon Department of Transportation where she was employed until her election to the Salem Area Transit District Board at its formation in 1979. She found that not only did she appreciate the results of campaigning and setting public policy as an elected official, but she also enjoyed the campaign process.

In 1983 she became the first female mayor of Salem. Sue attributes her successful campaign to the incredible commitment of hundreds of campaign volunteers and the campaign’s ability to excite Salem citizens about the community’s future. Her accomplishments as mayor included her efforts to acquire 22 acres of waterfront property on the Willamette River, known today as Riverfront Park.

On an international level, sister-city relations were established with Simferopol in the then Soviet Union and with Kawagoe in Japan.

After leaving office in 1988, Sue had her fourth child and focused her time and energy on raising her children, volunteering in their schools, and supporting several community organizations. She was among the women who founded Abiqua School, a private Salem elementary school. Sue, like her fellow parents, believed that children in Salem needed more educational alternatives. Although originally planned as a charter school in the public school system, it was not given this designation and opened as an independent school in September 1994, serving children in grades K-6.

Family Building Blocks, a social service agency, was started in 1996 when Marion and Polk counties received a three year federal grant for a Relief Nursery to fight child abuse. Sue Miller and Deanna Smith co-chaired the board during its first year. When Smith resigned because of other professional responsibilities, Sue continued to lead this effort for children’s welfare. In December of 1999, the former Chelsea's Restaurant on Lancaster Drive in northeast Salem was given to Family Building Blocks as its new home. At the time of this writing, summer 2000, Family Building Blocks is in the midst of a one million dollar campaign to finance their ambitious plan to "to keep children safe and families together."

Sue's three older children are pursuing their own paths. Jennifer, 26, is a missionary in the jungles of Peru and Debbie, 24, is in the Peace Corps in Hondura. Son Christopher is a junior at Stanford University majoring in engineering. Sarah, at age 8, is in the Intermediate class at Abiqua School, the school co-founded by her mother. She loves animals, basketball, and music.

Sue was born in Peoria, Illinois, to parents who inculcated the responsibility of giving back to the community in which one lives. After twenty five years of community service, she is as busy as ever following that tradition. She is reaffirming a statement that she made when she was mayor, "It is a privilege to work with so many committed persons who are trying to make a positive difference in people’s lives in the Salem community."

Compiled by Virginia Green

Bibliography:
This profile was compiled with information supplied by Sue Harris Miller.