I AM WILSHIRE - SUSAN CENTER

Energetic

Discipline and energy have helped give Susan Center a satisfying and successful life.

“My aunt taught me to sew in third grade, and by junior high I made all my clothes, copying popular designs, and I knew I wanted to do fashion design” or otherwise work in the fashion industry, she said.

In high school, Susan was active in Young Life and the National Thespian Society, was a member of the debate team and the spirit team and was inducted into the National Honor Society.

She majored in textiles and clothing at the University of Texas at Austin, earning her degree in 1980. She began modeling for Joske’s catalogs in her junior year and considered leaving college to pursue a modeling career.

After graduating, Susan began her career at Neiman Marcus’ Prestonwood location. After a year there, she became assistant store manager for a women’s specialty store and later helped open a Marshall Fields store at the Galleria, where she managed couture and designer sportswear.

She met her former husband in 1981, and they were married in 1986. They had similar interests, as he had started a fashion magazine. “We were invited to premier Dallas soirees and met so many people,” she said.

However, their focus was on their careers, which Susan calls “shallow things by comparison” to a satisfying spiritual life. “When our focus shifted to family and deeper things and we started putting God back in our lives, our lives became richer and more rewarding.”

He began an advertising business in 1990, and she, weary of the pressure of retail management, began a part-time career in cosmetics at Neiman’s, planning special events, organizing clinics and promoting products. She loved her work, and her schedule allowed her to continue until 2000 while raising her three daughters.

Susan grew up Baptist, but while she was married, the family went to Highland Park Presbyterian Church. She came to Wilshire from Park Cities Baptist, where her teenagers—Rachel, Rebecca and Rose—remain active.

She was drawn to Wilshire because she had “an internal longing for a smaller church, something more intimate,” she said. “At Wilshire, I can know people; I’m not just a number, and our leadership staff are my friends.

“The choir made me feel I was in the right place,” she added. “I love Wilshire’s traditional music and worship style.”

Besides singing soprano in the Sanctuary Choir, where she currently serves as social chairwoman, she has organized and taught three women’s Bible studies since joining Wilshire in 2007. She also is a member of Oasis Class.

Susan always has loved music and the arts. She plays piano and took classical ballet from age 3 through high school. She sang in the a cappella choir in high school and in church choirs in high school and college. During college, she was a member of a singing and dancing group called Southern Singers.

Active in the Dallas Symphony League, she served for 10 years on the committee for fireside chats, which entertains guest conductors and soloists, and has frequently ushered at youth concerts at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Especially close to Susan’s heart is Symphony YES (short for Youth Educational Services), which brings symphonic music and education to underprivileged children. “We also buy instruments for interested children and get them plugged in at their schools,” she said.

“The volunteer work that defines me the most is delivering Meals on Wheels for the past nine years,” she said. While battling thyroid cancer for the past two years, she “learned how valuable the service is to people who are ill.”

Friends and church members also “surrounded me with love and comfort and food,” Susan added. “I totally depended on them for four months. I was so buoyed; it was almost a joyful time rather than a time of sorrow.”

She has enjoyed running for many years and recently resumed a limited running schedule. Before her illness, she typically ran five miles several days a week.

A self-admitted homebody, she has “been fortunate to travel a lot,” she said. “My favorite country is Greece; however, I am happy to call Dallas home and even happier to call Wilshire my church home.”