Building community has been her calling

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

PLYMOUTH - You could say that Suellen Glaub-Long had service in her blood.

Suellen is a member of the Plymouth High School class of 1959 and the daughter of Walt Glaub. Walt was one of the driving forces of Plymouth's growth and development during his lifetime and himself a member of the Plymouth Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Suellen grew up with a perfect role model in community service.

"Growing up in Plymouth was really the best of times," said Suellen, now President of Bridgeview Bank in uptown Chicago. "The world was at peace, the economy was good, those were great years and I have exquisite memories of growing up. Sitting on my porch in the summertime with all my friends - who've all stayed close friends to this day - nothing that any of us have done could have happened without the foundation that growing up in Plymouth gave to us all."

Part of that foundation was helping others and being deeply involved with community.

"I remember Saturday night's in the summer at (G&G Grocery) and my father would mark down food items or have specials," said Suellen. "That was the night the migrant workers would come in the store to shop and he wanted to be sure they'd be able to afford food for their families. Being around those people who would come to the store gave me a real desire to experience other cultures."

She was also exposed to many ideas during those years.

"Dad had something they called 'Discussion Club' where all his friends would come over they had a topic and they would sit and discuss it," she said. "I always wanted to be a part of it but I was too young so my mom would send me to bed and I would sneak out to the stairs and listen in secretly to everything they were talking about. I learned a lot listening to those conversations."

Continuing to learn Suellen pursued a career in design attending the Chicago School of Design and falling in love with the city that has become her second home.

"I got hooked on the vitality, the mixed cultures and economics of uptown," said Suellen. "That was the point of entry for nearly all immigrants back then and it was addicting to learn about other cultures. I got involved in everything."

It's also where she met Chip Long - himself a transplant from Erie, Pennsylvania and her husband for 45 years.

"I remember we met on a sub zero night and two weeks later he proposed," she said. "It was just meant to be."

The two have raised three children - Doug, Allison and Edward - and spent a lifetime revitalizing uptown Chicago - it's buildings and it's community.

With a little help from home - namely the Culver State Exchange Bank and Billy Osborne - the couple bought and refurbished their first building. All the while Suellen was deeply involved in helping build the community their buildings were in.

She has won numerous awards for her work with her company The Long Promotional Group for outstanding campaigns for nonprofit partnership. She began incubator style plans to lease space to non-profit organizations. She is a Board member and past Chair of the Heartland Alliance working to create viable communities for immigrants to seek their fortunes, raise families, nurture and fulfill the dreams that brought them to America and has been extremely active in the uptown Chamber of Commerce.

"Community building is a real passion for me," she said. "It's a combination of watching people like my father, or Father Sheridan and all the time they spent building community when I was growing up. It's in my blood. Bringing people together to create wonderful communities like the one they have in Plymouth."

Suellen will be honored along with Dr. Robert Vore and Dr. Arthur Becknell Jr. as the latest inductees to the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame at this year's Alumni Banquet slated for Friday June 15 at the Plymouth High School cafeteria and will feature a concert by 1995 graduate Denver Bierman in the PHS Auditorium. Tickets for the banquet are $35 and include VIP seating for the show. You can purchase tickets online at http://plymouthalumni.blogspot.com/ by email at plymouthschoolsalumni@gmail.com or phone 574-952-4444 or mail your check made payable to the Plymouth Alumni Association to 611 Berkley St., Plymouth, IN.