Susan Hollinberger

Susan Hollinberger was a woman who exemplified all things a mother should be. She was caring and generous with her time, never thinking twice about helping someone who needed her. Her family was the center of the world.

Susan was an only child, born to Harold and Audrey (Holzer) Douthit in Cincinnati, OH on January 14, 1956. Her family moved from Cincinnati to Indianapolis, IN when Susan was nine. Susan attended Nora Elementary School , Northview Middle School and North Central High School and was member of Second Presbyterian Church. An active and energetic child, Susan sang in the high school and church choirs, played piano, was active in Girl Scouts and church youth groups, swam for the Jordan YMCA swim team and played tennis. She joined the Washington Township Youth Tennis Program in its third year, when the facilities consisted of a handful of courts, a trailer, and a leaky water fountain. Years later, Susan was proud to have her children play in the same program and to see the recent completion of the newly expanded tennis center.

During summers she worked as a lifeguard at the Y and apartment complexes, developing a very dark tan and very blonde hair. During another summer, she lead a workgroup of older boys from Noble Center, who were responsible for raising vegetables in a large garden and distributing the produce to local food banks. She quickly found that it was easier and safer to breakup dirt clod wars and hoe fights by docking paychecks than by yelling and pushing her way in between a bunch of big guys.

After graduating from high school in 1974, Susan attended Vanderbilt University 's School of Nursing . In spite of a heavy course load, she was a very active member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. She played piano and sang in many sorority skits and musicals.

In her junior year, Susan lived in a dormitory suite with a group of her sorority sisters. There she met Dave Hollinberger, a senior engineer who lived in one of the other suites on the same floor.

Susan and Dave's earliest memory of each other was the first or second day of fall semester, when she asked Dave and his roommate to help move her stuff from summer storage in the sorority house to the dorm, a quarter of a mile away. Her "stuff" turned out to be a large green metal steamer trunk, filled with all of Susan's college possessions and weighing well over a 100 pounds. Thanks to her mother, the top had a 2 foot high letter "D" decal, just to make sure it would not be confused with any other 100 pound green metal steamer trunks. In the subsequent 29 years, the trunk would move with Susan and Dave to numerous apartments and houses on both coasts and in between.

Over the course of that year, Susan and David started dating and fell in love. They became engaged shortly after Dave graduated in 1978. After graduating, Dave joined the Navy and was stationed in Washington, DC . Meanwhile, Susan finished her last year of nursing school.

Every week or two during their extended engagement in separate cities, Susan would send Dave a greeting card with a long note included. Dave saved the cards and Susan later put them into a scrapbook. This scrapbook records the ups and downs of a long distance relationship. The front of one card has a cartoon of a smiling cat which says, "I like you so much..." while inside it says, "... I'm going to ask my mother if I can keep you!" It is signed "Love, Sue". At the bottom it is counter-signed by her mother, "Yes you may, Audrey".

During their engagement, Susan and Dave once discussed how many children they wanted. He thought zero would be a good number but could see going as high as two. Susan, an only child whose favorite book growing up was "Cheaper by the Dozen", thought six children would be nice but would be happy with four. Dave resolved this friendly impasse by joking that he would be happy to help with the first two but that Susan would have to figure out the rest for herself

Susan graduated from Vanderbilt in 1979 with a BSN degree and completed her RN boards several months later.

After boards, Susan went on a vacation with her mother and dad to Panama City , before they started the final wedding preparations. They have to cut their vacation short because of Hurricane David - a potentially ominous sign for the upcoming wedding.

The couple was married on October 20, 1979, in the chapel at Second Presbyterian Church by Dr. Richard Armstrong.

Susan started work as a nurse at Columbia Hospital for Women in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She loved her job since it allowed her to work in an ICU and play with babies at the same time.

As a new nurse, Susan had to work nights frequently. One afternoon she was awaken by the noise of helicopters landing at the Pentagon, which was near their apartment. She called Dave at work, concerned that a war might be breaking out. Dave explained that as an Ensign in the Navy, he would probably be the last to know if a war broke out and to please let him know if more helicopters landed.

Susan and Dave were in Washington at an exciting time, experiencing first hand the celebration after the release of the Iranian hostages, President Reagan's first Inauguration and the 4th of July fireworks on the Mall. They enjoyed going to the Smithsonian and visiting the monuments on the Mall. But her favorite places in DC were the Custis-Lee Mansion in Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon . They had many visits from friends and family while in DC and she would always take them to Mount Vernon . It became a family joke that she was getting a finder's fee from Mount Vernon .

In July 1982, they welcomed their first child, Drew, who was born at the Columbia Hospital for Women and spent time in the Neonatal ICU where Susan worked. Susan stopped working after Drew was born to become a full-time mom.

In 1983, the Navy transferred Dave and Susan to the Seattle area. In August 1984, their second child Emily was born. Susan loved being a mother and was happy with the decision she made to stay home with her two children. Susan found time in her busy schedule to be active the Officer's Wives Club, play bridge and to organize a formal military banquet.

In 1987, Dave left the Navy and accepted a job at the Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis . Moving back from Seattle , the family drove cross-country with 4-year-old Andrew with walking pneumonia, 2-year-old Emily with bronchitis, a golden retriever puppy and two cats. Susan was glad to be back home again, close to her parents.

Susan grew up attending Second Presbyterian Church and was happy to rejoin after she returned to Indianapolis . She was an alto in the church choir and choir mother for the children's choir. She was a skilled piano player and learned to play the organ as well. She was also active in the Presbyterian Women's Organization, serving as president, co-chairing the Fall Bazaar and serving in the antiques group.

Susan encouraged her children to participate in many activities including choir, Girl Scouts, church youth group, soccer, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, marching band, ROTC and chess. She setup and coached a middle school team when enough kids became interested in setting up a team. She served as the treasurer for the Washington Township Swim Club and a North Central Marching Band mother.

Once her kids were in middle school, she felt she could go back into nursing part time. She worked for the Indiana University Medical Center where she identified and selected patients at IUMC, Wishard, Methodist, VA and St. Vincent's to be interviewed by second year IU medical students as a part of their physical diagnosis and history course. She loved her job and often said she was being paid to talk to patients, nurses and doctors all day. She enjoyed the schedule that allowed her to be at home whenever the kids were at home.

In 2000, the family welcomed Tasha and Tisha Easom, two of Emily's high school friends, into their family. Susan was thrilled to have the four precious children she had long wished for. She and Dave had to laugh when they recalled their discussions when they were engaged over 20 years earlier.

She enjoyed traveling with her family. Susan visited Barbados, British Columbia, Great Britain, Olympic National Park, Bahamas, Cancun, Hawaii, Belize, the Canadian Rockies and the Turks & Caicos. She was also a great cook, with the family favorites including pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, curried chicken and mostaccioli.

Susan will be dearly missed by her friends and family. Her legacy of love and dedication will leave fond memories and a strong source of comfort.

Susan died November 8, 2005 at St. Vincent's Hospital from complications after surgery. Her family includes her husband, David Hollinberger; and her children, Andrew, Emily, Tasha and Tisha. A memorial service will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 19th at Second Presbyterian Church. All are welcomed to gather immediately following the service in the church parlor for a reception and celebration of Susan's life. You are invited to visit the www.lifestorynet.com website where you may share a memory, order flowers on-line or make a memorial contribution.