Welcome
It’s time for another edition of Meet A Member of the Liberty NY Rotary Club. This week’s feature is Sue Kraycer, who has held several leadership positions in her tenure with our club, and is a former Assistant Governor in the region. Here’s her story!
“I am a Sullivan County native having grown up in Youngsville. I led a rather ordinary life – got married, settled in Liberty, had children, got a job. I was working in a local accounting office when the CPA decided it was time to retire and sold his practice. The new owner encouraged me to go back to college and get my degree in Accounting, then take the CPA exam. I took classes at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh after work. I graduated 3 years later - Magna cum Laud while working full-time and raising three children. I passed the CPA exam and became a partner in the firm in 1997.
“My business partner said it was time for me to get out in public – make myself known, join an organization or two. I was invited to a Rotary meeting and immediately liked the ideals of the organization. It was a chance to give back to my community.
“I joined in 1999. Over the years, I have held various offices in the Liberty Club – President, Secretary, Treasurer, you name it. I have also been Assistant Governor in our Region, meeting members of all seven clubs in the Region.
“Rotary International had taken on a goal of eradicating polio in the world. In 2007, Bunnee Webb, the District Governor at the time, asked me if I would be the Polio Chairperson in our Region. I thought about it quite a bit. My son had just died and in the grief counseling session, I was told a good therapy was to take on a project outside myself – do something for the greater good. I held that position ever since, up until the District restructured the team. In the 1980s, there were still over 350,000 cases of polio in over 125 countries. So far in 2021, there have been no cases of the wild polio virus and only 23 cases of secondary polio. These few cases are in Madagascar and Nigeria. Great strides have been made, reducing polio outbreaks by 99.99 percent.
“I stay committed to the ideals of Rotary – Service Above Self. I have retired from the business world, but am still active in Rotary. I have been to Rotary International Conferences and have met Rotarians from all over the globe. What a wonderful experience that is.
“I have been to Haiti and seen what an impact our clean water project has made in the lives of the people in Cap-Haitien. We don’t realize how dependent we are on clean water and how much we take it for granted.
“I am retired and plan to spend at least three months a year away from the snow and ice. I am able to spend time with my two daughters, Tara and Emily, and their families. I have four grandsons, one granddaughter and one great-granddaughter. Rotary is my second family. When my husband died in 2017, they surrounded me with love and compassion. I hope to stay involved for many more years to come.”
