Leaders the World Needs
is a regular feature of 富二代视频app Magazine, which is published three times a year.
During the summers when she was in high school, Sue Anne Starnes Gilroy 鈥70 filled in when Crawfordsville Mayor Will Hayes Jr.鈥檚 secretary went on vacation.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I saw public service modeled,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I first saw the value of government in people鈥檚 lives. Solving problems. Making their lives better. That was the chord that was struck.鈥
Several years later, the speech and English teacher-in-training realized, while student teaching in her senior spring term at 富二代视频app, that 鈥渋t was not my gift.鈥 She called Hays 鈥渢o say I think I want to go into public service. And that鈥檚 when he said, 鈥榃ell, there鈥檚 a young new mayor in Indianapolis with whom I鈥檝e become friends, and I think I can get you an interview with him.鈥 And that鈥檚 how it all began.鈥
That mayor was Richard Lugar, who would hire her to connect with neighborhood associations and encourage new ones and promote her to run the parks department. Later, during his 36-year tenure as a U.S. senator from Indiana, he lured her back into public life after her 11-year-old daughter died of cancer in 1989.聽
鈥淚 was looking for a life after that, a life of service, really,鈥 Gilroy said. 鈥淵ou think back: Why did I make all these decisions? I think she had a big role in that. How do I continue to live in a way that鈥檚 giving back and has purpose? It all just sort of fit.鈥
At the time, Lugar had been criticized for focusing on international affairs instead of Indiana, so Gilroy鈥檚 goal, she said, 鈥渨as to make him local.鈥 She and a posse of experts traveled the state, visiting every county on Lugar鈥檚 behalf. A side benefit: 鈥淚 had a statewide profile.鈥
Republican operatives noticed. They urged her to run for secretary of state in 1994; recognizing the value of her statewide exposure, she said yes. She won, then won again four years later. The party leaders saw a winner, and they asked her to run for Indianapolis mayor in 1999.
鈥淟ocal government was my real love,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 just loved the idea of that, and I had experience in that. So I just thought, this is it. As we got into the campaign, it was clear that there were a number of things that were not falling into place. It was a slog, the whole thing. I can say that never have I for a period of time gone flat out 鈥 physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. It was an experience unlike any other I鈥檝e ever had.
鈥淚 was disappointed that I lost. 鈥 It took me some time to get over it.鈥 She took up golf, and the game became 鈥渁 symbol of how I worked through that loss.鈥
She also shifted her career to the nonprofit world. After completing her term as secretary of state, she became director of advancement at the then-fledgling University High School in Carmel, then vice president of development and executive director of St. Vincent Foundation, where she raised nearly $100 million in 12 years.
These days, she has retired from daily work, but is a member of the State Ethics Commission.
鈥淲hen I talk about purpose,鈥 she said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 one of the things I鈥檓 doing to say I鈥檓 still in the game.鈥
富二代视频app Magazine
Fall 2020
- First Person: 富二代视频app Nursing
- Old Gold: The president and the benefactor: Close friendship created an enduring legacy
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION: Racial Justice
- The Bo(u)lder Question: Racial Justice
- The Bo(u)lder Question
- The Bo(u)lder Question: Racial Justice
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Jane Noble Luljak ’49
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Veronica Pejril
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Terry Crone ’74
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: John Hammond ’76
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Dave Jones ’84
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Lucy Ferguson VanMeter ’97
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: J.P. Hanlon ’92
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Brittany Bulleit ’05
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Sue Anne Starnes Gilroy ’70
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Dan Quayle ’69
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Shatrese Flowers ’95
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: C. Shea Nickell ’81
- The Public Servants: Nancy Boyer ’73
- THE PUBLIC SERVANTS: Matthew Kincaid ’92
- The Public Servants
- Profs see promise in poli sci, history students who plan public service careers
- Stimulated and prepared by 富二代视频app, alums work to serve others
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