Meet the President of Bethany Cemetery Association

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An Original Austinite that is enthusiastic about her community and its Heritage. Sue does not consider herself an activist, but she has been active in the East Austin Community and has been Involved in numerous community issues. She Co-Founded and Co-Chaired a grassroot group call the East Austin Watershed Task Force that was formed after the drowning of her 10-year-old nephew in 1993 in an East Austin creek during Spring break near his home. The goal of the Task force was to look at safety of the creeks of East Austin as they run through our neighborhoods and parks. The Task Force was successful in getting the City of Austin to allocate 9.3 million dollars for improvements to the watershed as they flow through East Austin Parks to help keep neighborhood children safe and to prevent another unfortunate drowning of a child. Sue also served the Travis County community for 23 years under his leadership of former Travis County Commissioner of Precinct One, the late Ron Davis.  In this position she was able to be involved in promoting change throughout eastern Travis County.

In the mid-nineties safety concerns for neighborhood children led her to a neglected and over-grown cemetery. She later learned that it was Austin’s first black cemetery.  It was natural for her to accept the challenge to clean it up. This was the beginning of her preservation efforts at the Historical Bethany Cemetery, which included being instrumental in getting its historical Marker in 1997. Sue received The Dennis Hobbs Individual Achievement Award from Keep Austin Beautiful for her environment efforts and leadership and personal efforts on creek improvements and Bethany Cemetery.  Her advocacy for Bethany Cemetery over the years has been steadfast and she remains resolute as developers encroach on the cemetery boundaries. Sue continues to be an advocate for Bethany Cemetery and the East Austin Community.