(although I don't know why anyone would be interested)
My Background... I was born Susan Elaine Bender in Bedford, Pennsylvania,  many years ago
and began my
education at an old one
room school in St. Clairsville.  I
didn't attend a school with indoor plumbing until 7th
grade! I
admit that I sometimes got into
trouble in school - mostly for talking when I should have been
listening. I have worked
since I was thirteen at such jobs
as baby sitter, strawberry picker,
dishwasher, waitress, store clerk, cafeteria lady,
cashier, receptionist, secretary, substitute teacher, science teacher, and technology specialist.
My hero is my mother who raised my brother and me by herself after our
father passed away when I was eleven. She's still going strong at 88+.In school, I was sort of a nerd, I guess. There weren't really any sports for girls then but I liked to listen to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games and watch local school sporting events. I was not musical but I loved to dance and roller skate.  I was on the newspaper and yearbook staffs and
in the Library Club and Future Teachers of America, however my favorite
subjects were algebra and geometry which were taught by my
favorite teacher, Mr. Rorabaugh. After graduation from Chestnut
Ridge High School
(now the middle school) in the Class of '65,
I went to
Catherman's Business School in Cumberland, MD, where I learned typing -
one of my
most useful skills. I also met my future husband at a dance in
nearby Ridgeley, WV. If you are an old friend or former
classmate who found this page, please drop me an email
to let me know
where you are and what you are doing. You can also look me up on Facebook
- search for Sue Bender Alkire and send me a
"friend" invitation. Hopefully I'll recognize your name and accept your request! After
attending Altoona
Campus of Penn State
and Penn
State
University for two years, I quit, got married and moved to West
Virginia. After
my first two children were born, I
commuted from Hampshire
County
to Shepherd
College
to
earn my Bachelor's degree in Elementary
Education and Social Studies. I taught at Romney
Elementary School
for 13 years before transferring to Romney
Junior High/Middle School
and returning to
college to earn a middle school science certification. Over the
years
I have been a newspaper and yearbook advisor, the school webmaster, and even a track coach. After many years of working and raising my family,  I
finally earned my Master's degree in Secondary Science
Education at West Virginia
University
in 1999 and have over 75 graduate credits. This is my 36th
year in
education and I am in my third year as a Technology
Integration Specialist for Hampshire
County Schools,
capitalizing on many years as a technology consultant doing
training, writing online lessons, and helping to plan technology staff
development for teachers around the state for the West
Virginia Department of Education. Who says that you can't teach an old dog
new computer tricks? I'm living proof that aging baby boomers don't have to be Digital Dinosaurs! |
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My Family... I have been married to Coach Jim Alkire for over 41 years. He is a native of Romney and just retired from teaching driver education at Hampshire High School where he also previously coached football and track. He still referees basketball and recently started officiating football, also. He is doing some substitute teaching and substitute bus driving to keep himself busy. 
We
have
five kids! Our oldest daughters both graduated from WVU and have
Master's
degrees. Christy,
a busy mom, who sells educational
books from home, and
her husband, Jason, moved from Morgantown
to Evansville,
Indiana
where he is now a national accounts manager for a major sporting goods
company. They are the parents of our first grandson, Connor,
and his little brother, Erik,
born during a Super Bowl half-time. Julie
and her husband, Tony, live in Montgomery
County,
Maryland,
where she is now a housing code inspector and he is a
computer tech in
Washington, D.C. They gave us our youngest grandson, A
J, Mike,
the oldest son, graduated from WVU and had lived in Santander,
Cantabria, Spain, before moving to Ste. Adele, Quebec, Canada, recently.
He
and his wife Pili, a native of Peru,
have a beautiful little girl named Scarlett,
our only granddaughter. He has worked a variety of jobs from restaurant manager and cook to private English tutor. Becky,
a
summa cum laude graduate of WVU and WVU medical
school is a pediatrician in Charlotte, North Carolina. Danny
graduated from WVU last spring and is living around home now
contemplating
career choices in this tough job market. He is officiating
football and basketball with his dad and planning to start doing
substitute teaching. In addition, we have a cat, Gabby,
and a sweet-tempered, friendly red-nosed pit bull terrier, Eve, living
with
us. (See Our
Family
Albums, Our Grendchildren, and Family
Slideshow.) |
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My Interests... Besides hanging out with my family,  I like
designing web pages, reading novels by Kathy Reichs, James Patterson and Janet
Evanovich, listening
to "oldies", traveling, and
watching
sporting events.
I have recently ventured into jewelry making with beads. I also started dabbling in genealogy and helped my mom
create a book about our ancestors to give her grandkids.
Now I'm trying to find out about my husband's ancestors. I don't
watch much television except I confess to
being hooked on NCIS (love Mark Harmon), Grey's Anatomy,
and Bones. I gave up keeping the clock for the local high school faotball and basketball games just this year.  Our family enjoys Mountaineer
sports and frequently meets for WVU tailgate parties. Last year most of us piled into our vehicles the day after Christmas and headed for the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte to see Pat White
and WVU whip up on NC. Through the years we have gone to other
bowl games, but that one was the best. By contrast, this year's Gator Bowl was a terrible disappointment, especially since it was even cold in Florida.
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My Travels...  I
love sightseeing and between family vacations and school field trips
with my kids I have visited wonderful places including several
amusement parks where I like to ride roller coasters, I
went to Philadelphia to see the King Tut exhibit with my old college
roommate once.
Someday I'm going to get all the way to California but for now I'll
have to settle for finally getting to see the Grand Canyon and walking
on the glass-bottomed Skywalk!
It was part of a tour we took while visiting Las Vegas as part of a
surprise birthday party for Christy this spring.  While there, we also watched Cirque du Soleil's "Love" show featuring the music of the Beatles.I was lucky enough to go on a work related conference to Montreal (2000) and saw some really beautiful cathedrals while there. A group of colleagues later flew to Memphis (also 2000) for a middle school conference. While there we toured Graceland and felt the presence of Elvis. Later we walked around on Beale Street, the "home of the blues and birthplace of rock and roll" and ate at B.B. King's House of Blues. Just click on Elvis to hear what he has to say about my visit! --> --> --> -->  When Mike lived overseas, I visited Spain
four times. In 2006 I flew through Heathrow Airport on my way
just before they uncovered a terrorist plot to blow
up US bound
planes with liquids.
 I
had to return home via Heathrow the next week following the
drama. I visited
Spain for
the first time
in 2003
with Christy, Julie, Connor, Leslie (my
college roommate) and Madie (my sister-in-law) to see my new
granddaughter. Jim and I returned
in 2004 and spent two weeks with Mike and his in-laws. Becky and I
traveled there for a week in 2005 after her med school
graduation. While I love all of the sights I have
seen there, one of my favorites remains the Roman Aqueducts in
Segovia. Imagine something that old still being intact. Now he
lives near Montreal, another favorite old city of mine.  With
family living in the Washington,
D. C metro area,
we
visit there often. Jim, Julie and I braved the 4th of July crowds
in 2005 to hear the concert
on the Capitol grounds
featuring the Beach Boys and Gloria Estefan. The grandkids enjoy the National
Zoo
and once we were there on the day a baby panda was born, so, of course,
the
Panda Pavillion was off-limits, but the lions were great. Danny and I have
also accompanied
Christy and Julie and their boys to the Air and Space Museum. Leslie and I put over 32,000 steps on her
pedometer
sightseeing in the city visiting various places of interest.
Despite many previous trips to D.C, I never remember seeing the Constitution
and Declaration of
Independence before. Jim and I finally went to see the cherry blossoms in bloom around the Tidal
Basin a few years ago and we have taken both of our mothers to see the World War II Memorial. Jim and I spent a day in NYC before Thanksgiving and took in 3 shows - The Rockettes Christman Show, Jersey Boys, and Rock of Ages. They were all great and we spent the day walking around the sites. In 2005, we spent my birthday in the city where we visited the Today Show on Rockefeller plaza and attended a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman. That fall, Julie and I returned to see Mamma Mia on Broadway and a taping of The View. Previously, in the fall of 2004, my girls and I spent a weekend in NYC around Greenwich Village looking for places where their great-grandmother lived as a young girl and married at St. Joseph's Church. Despite a cold rain, we rode on top of a double-decker sight-seeing tour bus. I once during a bus tour to the city with some friends. Many years before the terrorist attacks, our family went up in the World Trade Center Twin Towers while visiting relatives in New York.
My Favorite Places... Two of my very favorite places are Harpers Ferry and Blackwater Falls right here in West Virginia. I love the natural scenic beauty of my adopted Mountain State and some day I might build a log cabin on our land in the woods up one of its "Country Roads". Our family also took several trips to Colorado when Mike lived there. I think the Colorado Rockies are among the most beautiful places I've ever seen. One memorable event occurred when we drove out over Easter break once accompanied by Christy and her 5 month old son, Connor, and the family dog, Eve, and got stuck in Kansas during a surprise spring snowstorm! This summer I will get to visit there again with my work gang for a tech conference in Denver! We want to go early and stay over to catch some sights.  My new favorite beach is North Myrtle Beach. We first went there because Danny has been working there for the summer and we loved it. The water is warm, the beach is wide and the 4th of July fireworks up and down the beach are awesome! (Shopping isn't too bad either!) We made a grand trip out of it to celebrate 40 years of marriage there with our entire family in 2008. You can see some of our family beach photos which were taken by a professional photographer that the kids arranged. |
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My Most Exciting Trip...  Going
white
water rafting is a close second to the time I
went to a sky and space workshop for teachers in 1992 and all of us got
to fly
to the NASA
Research
facility
at Langley, Virginia, and walk inside a wind tunnel. We flew
there in a C-130
Hercules
plane piloted by the WV Air National
Guard. It was one
of those
big camouflage planes they use to deliver troops and supplies to
disaster and war zones. When we were about to land during our
return trip, a terrible thunder storm came up and the plane
had to circle around for about an hour and finally land somewhere else
for refueling. I was lucky that it was my turn to be up in the
cockpit the whole time watching the storm on the Navigator's little
tiny radar screen and listening to the radio communications. I always
dreamed of going to Space Camp but I guess that won't happen since I am
no longer teaching science.! |
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An Honor I Received Was...   In 2002, I
had the
honor of
being Hampshire County Teacher of the Year and was one
of the five finalists for WV
Teacher of the Year 2003.
Although I was not selected as the state teacher of the year, it was a wonderful
experience and  I received recognition at the annual WVSTA Convention
later that year. I would like to thank all of the people
who have
helped
me become a better teacher over the years and I feel humbled by all of the wonderful dedicated teachers I
have worked with throughout the state. |
