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Miss Sue ColendaHear this interview in Real Audio FormatWhen did you come to Oxford? Tell me about the day you arrived. I don't remember. In 1959. So you were just a baby? No, I was 7 years old. Did you stay through completion of high school? I graduated from high school in 1971. What was it like to grow up at Oxford? Where did you live and go to school? It was very different in the 60s and 70s than it is now. We had very little outside activity. We did attend church uptown on Sunday mornings, but we also attended church here on our campus on Wednesday nights and Sunday nights. We were allowed to go to town once a month on Saturdays. There might have been some persons across the street that we might have been friends with but we didn't have a lot of curricular activities outside of the orphanage. What was your favorite thing about growing up at Oxford? When you look back on the years that you spent here, what do you remember with fondness? Friends. I was surrounded by friends. There were more children at that time than there are today, and we're still friends. We grew up from the time we were small until the time we graduated from high school. Do you still see them occasionally? All the time. Do they still come back for Homecoming and things like that? Yes. When did you begin working at Oxford? What brought you back? I was approached by Albert Capps, who at the time was the Dean of Students, about being a counselor. I think it was 1980. Ever since then I have worked some, part time, down at the Print Shop. Doing books and different articles that were due periodically throughout the year. But as far as working as a counselor, I was a counselor for five years. So I feel like I've paid back Oxford Orphanage for everything they've done for me; that's a HARD job. But anytime you're dealing with children's lives, that's a hard job, a big responsibility. Did you work with a particular age of children? I worked with, I guess, 13, 14, 15, and then I had 16, 17, 18 year old girls. One year I worked with the boys. It's just children in general. Once they hit 11, on up until they get to be young adults it's a hard job. How old are the children that work with you now in the Print Shop? They have to be age 16 or older, and we have boys and girls, both. They're put in different areas, we have a press area they might be placed in, we have a pre-press, back in the typesetting room with the film, one is probably placed in the secretarial area up front, and another is placed in the mail room. Then, as they learn the different duties, they move up to different stations so they can learn all aspects of printing. Do they print materials primarily for the Orphanage, or do they do outside jobs, too? We do Masonic work for all the Lodges in the state of North Carolina, we also do public business, and do printing for local businesses, and anything that comes from other Masons -- business cards, letterheads, envelopes. Tell me about your job. What are your responsibilities? I'm a typesetter. A person comes in with a job, maybe it's camera-ready, and I'll see it but do nothing to it. A lot of times they don't know what they want. A certain letterhead or a book design, or this or whatever, so I make a layout for them, and if they like it, they use it. But any job that comes in here that has any changes whatsoever has to go through me first, after its been put in a job jacket, and the paper ordered. What do you like best about your job, working here at the Orphanage? I'm thankful for my job, and I feel differently from a lot of persons, I would think, because it's also my home. It's always nice to go back home. Wisdom comes with maturity, I look at it differently than I did many years ago. I'm very thankful. But it's nice, I have a variety of different jobs, it's not the same, it's typing, but there are other aspects to it to. And the children, they are a joy, they're like your own, I have three of my own, so I have to remember and try to treat them as my own. And I hope they know that I love them. What's the most difficult thing about your job, or about working here? I don't really find anything difficult. I think the way we look at our jobs and look at our life, nine times out of ten it comes down to choice, it's whatever choice you make. And I try to instill that into the children, that they are the lucky ones that they got to come here. And whatever you make of your life is a choice you have to make. It has nothing to do with what other mistakes other persons have made before you. So, I don't find my job hard, I mean, we all have days, yuck, we'd all like to stay home, lay in the bed, but basically, I love my job. I enjoy the people I work with. Several changes have occurred since you were living here, up until now that you're working here. What are some of the most significant changes that you've seen at the Masonic Home for Children over the years? I don't think it's such a change at the Masonic Home for Children, I think it's a change within our world. Society in general has lost sight of what's important. Our children are our future. I think the biggest thing I've seen as far as the children here, a lot of them come at an older age and there are probably a lot of different reasons why they're here. It's not as strict as it was when I was here. That's good in some aspects, but it's not just here, it's everywhere. It's an awesome responsibility when you think that you're dealing with a child's life. And so, be careful what you do and what you say because they're watching. And you can't fool children, and the main priority should be what's best for them. Do you think the fact that you lived here and basically grew up here has helped you to understand, maybe, more where people are coming from, where the children are coming from? I hope so. I think sometimes some persons might have a tendency to feel sorry for them, and let them slide because of the situation, and I do not, and I probably say things to them without other persons hearing them, they know exactly what I say. Because I was raised here, they can't snow me for that reason. I tell them exactly just like it is. You know, who cares? This is life, this is what you've been dealt, and you've got a choice. You've got so many blessings, gosh, you're the lucky one. What are some stereotypes, you think, that people have of orphanages, or orphanage life today that you hear, maybe comments people make, and things like that, and how do you see those as being accurate or not accurate? Well, I hope I'm a good representation of my home. A lot of persons know that I was raised here, and I live here at Oxford also. I know the misconcepts were made back when we were growing up, you thought of Annie. You know, dark dungeons, no clothes, no food, a real drab, sad place. Don't get me wrong, growing up here, it was hard. The grass always looks greener on the other side. But we had each other. We loved each other. You can look back and giggle and laugh at stuff that happened 25, 30 years ago and its hilarious, and it was what we made it. We had each other, and it was very strict and very stern, a lot of elderly matrons. There's good, and there's bad, you know, it's just like in your own life. I think that so many things come down to choice, it's what you make it. Are there any people that stand out in your mind as being significant as far as being an influence on you when you were growing up here, or people that really touched your life when you were growing up here? Yeah, Mr. Sizemore still owes me money for all the coffee I got him. Eula Moore was a good person, she ran the clothing department. She was very kind, and you can go back to kindness, or cruel, or whatever, but a lot of times it's just personalities. Some persons giggle and laugh a lot, some persons don't. Children take things literally. But Eula Moore was a wonderful influence. It's hard to remember, I'm trying to think of the different ones. I had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Simpson, third grade teacher, Rowena Adams, my eighth grade teacher, so many of them made a great mark in my life. My father in law, Mr. Joe Colenda, worked up here for many years, and always fair, always tried to lead you down the right path. Mr. Al Colenda, my childrens' great uncle, was the same way. They were both raised here, also. There's just numerous persons who had influence on my life. And students, too. My friends, and all, you see, you hope through the years you can give back or do for others what was done for you. Is there anything else that you'd like to add, or say in closing, about growing up here or working here? Well, I think we all should be thankful for what we're dealt. God is very wise, and we have to trust that He knows what's best. As a child I didn't understand, I've been dealt many blessings in my life, and many heartaches, and without having the foundation of Oxford Orphanage or the Masonic Home for Children, I might not have been able to deal with them in a positive way. And I hope it's made me be a wonderful mother, that's your greatest gift, is your children. |
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