Faces of Green Spring
by Ivy Sinaiko
Susan Voss is one of those people who do so much with so little fanfare that they are often taken for granted, which I think is a big mistake. Susan’s contributions to Green Spring have been myriad. Her life has also been quite interesting, so I asked to interview her for Gardenline.
Susan VossSusan is a native of Los Angeles, California. She was married at 18 and took off with her new husband, who was in the Foreign Service, for their first posting—Baghdad—in 1954. Subsequent assignments included Uruguay, Singapore, Germany, Panama, and Manila. In 1972, Susan and her husband—now with three children, all born out of the US—returned to the US to stay. I asked Susan which of the overseas assignments she had considered most interesting. She said it was Singapore, mostly because of the fascinating mix of Chinese, Indian, and Muslim cultures.
While doing all this moving and raising children, Susan worked on getting her undergraduate college degree and then becoming a paralegal. While working as a paralegal, she said to herself, “I can do this. Why can’t I become a lawyer?” so at age 48 she started law school at Georgetown Law Center. After graduation, she worked at a small law firm that specialized in resort development and time sharing. She retired from the law firm at age 80 “when I found I had to come in from the garden and talk to clients.”
Susan was in Green Spring’s second Master Gardening class, in 2003. Although she is now in emeritus status as a Master Gardener, she still prepares the Master Gardener Highlights, which gives docents information on what is currently blooming in the gardens.
It’s hard to list all the work she has done at Green Spring and for the Friends of Green Spring. She has been on the FROGS board for years, serving as President and as Vice-President more than once. She co-edited this publication, Gardenline, for many years. For the last several years, she has chaired the FROGS silent auction, which has been a big fund-raiser for the group.
Susan volunteered as an outside gardener for Green Spring gardener Nancy Olney for many years and has recently switched to working with Alda Krinsman, Green Spring’s plant shop coordinator, in the propagation department. She spearheads the FROGS Art in the Garden program and also is responsible for the bloom table in the Horticulture Center that shows visitors what is in bloom at Green Spring.
As Susan says, “I like to keep busy.” In addition to the work she does at Green Spring, she also volunteers for the Shepherd Center, a national organization that works with elderly people, and at the Committee for Helping Others, a local group that gives financial support to people in the Vienna, VA area. She maintains a house and boat on the Chesapeake Bay, is in three book clubs, and also enjoys being in a movie club. She loves gardening, sailing, and spending time with her eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
At this point in our conversation, I asked Susan, “Do you ever have time to sleep?” She smiled. I consider Susan a wonderful role model that I, for one, could not live up to in a million years. Thanks, Susan, for all you do for Green Spring and for being the energetic and inspiring person that you are!
