Sunday Suppers - Susan

Over the past 45+ years, Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco intermittently connected with LCM-KU (now Westwood House Campus Ministry) – serving on the Board, participating on the fundraising committee for the establishment of Westwood House, and consulting on the development of administrative protocols for managing day-to-day operations.

Susan remembers her introduction to LCM, soon after her family moved to Lawrence in 1979. She and her husband would run into Dan Conrad, then LCM Campus Pastor, and his wife, Jan, at theater events. Their conversations about the performances led to an invitation to Sunday Supper and Worship, then held in the basement of University Lutheran Church.  Susan’s one-year-old and three-year-old quickly made friendships with the students. And the Sunday evening services closed off one busy week for the family and braced them for the new one arriving in the morning. 

For Susan, who served as Associate Vice Provost, International Programs, and is now retired, Campus Ministry always nests on that soft border between the University and the larger surrounding community. It is at once a bridge and a safe-haven where hard questions can be asked and new insights developed. It is a place of joy, celebration and shelter for those who grieve. It is a place to deepen one’s faith on this journey of higher education in Lawrence, Kansas. Westwood House is a place of hope for the future.  

A new collegiate school year begins in two short weeks here at Kansas University and the ministry at Westwood House will resume, as well. Because of your faithful generosity, we look forward to the ‘homecoming’ of our returning students and welcoming the arrival of new admits. We give thanks for your being an important part of our ministry. Thanks be to God!