A Joyful Experience: Suzanne Olsen

A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE

Suzanne and Tom Olsen’s donation to Sweet Adelines International

Watching LiveWire quartet perform at the 2019 Region #12 competition, one immediately notices the joy emanating from their stately baritone, Suzanne Olsen. She said joy is what has kept her ringing chords since 1986, when she joined her first Sweet Adelines chorus in Tokyo, Japan.

“I was utterly hooked the first night,” she recalled. “It was a chorus that had been in existence for ten years. It was about 75 percent Japanese singers, 25 percent singers from all over the world. It was just so much fun. The harmony got me immediately!”

Suzanne hopes to share that joy through the generous estate gift she and her husband, Tom, recently made to Sweet Adelines International. They worked with legal counsel to name Sweet Adelines in their family trust so that, upon their passing, their bequest will go to the organization that has meant so much to them.

Wherever the couple moved for Tom’s career, Suzanne sang barbershop – even when she had to found her own chorus, which she did in Bangkok, Thailand and Mexico City, Mexico.

“When I got to Bangkok, I knew nobody,” she said. “I went to the American Women's Club, and they had you fill out a form about your interests. I get a call the next day from a woman who had sung in Texas with a Sweet Adelines chorus, and she said, ‘Would you consider starting one here?’ I said, ‘I've been here a week! I don't even know anybody!’ and she said, ‘I know everybody in town. If I get them there, will you do it?’

The chorus had 22 people there the first night, and it grew to around 30 members by the time Suzanne moved away. It included people from all over the world as well as local singers.

“Founding the choruses was such a wonderful thing to do because it gave me a way to meet local people and make friends that were from that country and from other countries whom I would have never met before,” she said.

When Suzanne and Tom returned to the United States, she sang with Harmony Crossroads Chorus, Pacific Empire Chorus, and Pride of the Pacific Chorus. Today, in addition to LiveWire, she sings with 2019 Harmony Classic Division AA Champion Diablo Vista Chorus (DVC). She is a section leader, assistant director, and recorder on the Chorus Management Team for DVC, and in 2019, the chorus named her one of their two Sweet Adelines of the Year.

Suzanne said she values the education and friendships she has gained through Sweet Adelines.

“There’s always something that I come away excited about every single time I attend a Sweet Adelines educational program,” she said. “And what's always stunning to me is that I meet people who I would never become friends with ordinarily, but when we sing together and get to know each other, it's just such a joyful experience!”

The Olsens’ gift will help ensure that joy for future generations.