Meet Suzanne Lanoue

Suzanne Lanoue, a staff writer for San Diego Scene, contributes her insights and experiences with Karaoke around the USA in each issue. Recently San Diego Scene met up with Suzanne when she was visiting our area. We thought you might enjoy learning more about this talented, well-traveled karaoke addict!

     Suzanne was born into the working-class McGlone family in 1961, in Fairfield, CA, but grew up in San Diego. She has three brothers, Pat, Stephen, and David, who are all older. Stephen and his wife Zina, and David still live in San Diego, though David will soon be moving to Korea. Suzanne's mom died when she was 10, and for various reasons Suzanne moved to Carlsbad in 1976 to live with the Kennedy family in a foster home. It was there that she met her future husband and his family.
     Graduating from Carlsbad High School in 1979, Suzanne attended community college off and on, and had several odd jobs. After she and her husband were married in 1982, he was accepted to graduate school at the University of New York at Stony Brook. She finished her undergraduate degree there as well.
     After four years on Long Island they moved to El Paso where Suzanne completed the last year of her B.A. in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas. Following that they moved to Normal, IL where she continued her education at Illinois State University. It was at ISU that Suzanne first learned how to use computers and quickly took to them.
     In 1988 they moved back to Southern California. Suzanne continued working on her teaching credential while she taught for a few years. Then in 1997 they made a huge decision and bought a house in Lubbock, Texas, a place that's captured their hearts.
     When asked about what she likes about that area of the US, Suzanne is quick to respond, " I love my new house and the local people. There is very little crime, teenagers actually dress like real people instead of gangsters, and respect their elders (or at least they are taught manners so they pretend to), and people help their neighbors. And since we travel a lot so it can't get too boring." And travel they do. In the past few years she and her husband have toured Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and France. They've frequented Las Vegas many times (one of their favorite spots), Montreal, Chicago, New York and San Francisco/Berkeley.
     "We always go to a different state for our anniversary (it's our weird tradition). We have been married for almost 18 years so we've taken a lot of interesting trips," says Suzanne. "We don't have kids but we do travel, that's our thing. This year they've already visited Guam, Hawaii, San Diego, and Las Vegas, and are planning trips to Colorado, Minnesota, Ireland, and Paris!
     Currently, Suzanne works for Ask Jeeves, Inc., developers/owners of Ask Jeeves; it's a job which she clearly loves. "I do a variety of deeds; I am the customer service representative (I answer the email). It's been a great couple of years for the company!" Suzanne adds, "I am working on the Web and thoroughly enjoying it. I doubt if I will ever go back to teaching, even though I did like it."
     In her spare time Suzanne likes to visit numerous karaoke clubs where she sings up a storm. She also has a friend that plays piano and tells us they might be working up a musical act in the Lubbock area soon. Yet, as much as they like to travel, Suzanne also admits they like to move. So she suspects sometime in the next few years they'll either be getting a new house in Lubbock or moving elsewhere. Stay tuned!