of four daughters born to parents John and Romaine. Her father, John, was an attractive, outgoing man who had been a star athlete at Bay City Central High School. He even landed a tem-porary career as a semipro football player. Romaine loved to play cards with the men in the Wolf family when they gathered together in Suzi’s grandmother’s old wooden white house.
Two years after Suzi was born, disaster struck. Soon after giving birth to her fourth daughter, Michelle, Romaine Wolf suffered a severe stroke. The debilitating attack left Romaine severely disabled with immobility and slurred speech. In essence, Romaine lost most of her motor skills. Suzi’s oldest sister, Judy, who was ten years older than Suzi, took over the maternal role in the Wolf family. Judy took care of Suzi, Michelle, and their other sister, Barb. In addition, she also became the housekeeper for her father. Her father developed an unusual habit of sleeping all day and sometimes not waking up until six o’clock on certain nights. It was not because of work
either.
Despite the heavy workload, Judy relished the opportunity to help the family. She had a special affinity for Suzi.
74 Corey Mitchell
“She was my baby,” Judy told her cousin and Min-nesota Star-Tribune reporter, Larry Werner. “She’d take one of those little fat hands of hers and she’d put them on my face when I’d cry because I was feeling sorry for myself and she’d say, ‘Don’t cry, Judy, don’t cry.’ She was really just a delightful child.”
Suzi developed a voracious appetite for life and ex-ploration at an early age. She started with vicarious travels through books. Oftentimes she would head over to the public library and grab piles and piles of reading material.
As she got older, she would live out several of the adventures she read about.
“She was kind of a crazy kid,” her sister Judy recalled. “She was sweet. Rarely difficult. She was kind of a people person.”
Two of the people she became closest to were her best friends, Keri Murphy and Lori Bukowski. Lori recalled that Suzi loved to dance and loved the Rolling Stones. Suzi and Keri definitely gathered no moss.
After high-school graduation, Suzi headed out west to California with a friend of hers. Suzi marveled at the Pa-cific Ocean. She told Keri that she loved standing in the sand looking out upon the vast expanse of the ocean on one side, then turning around and seeing the beautiful, lush green mountains behind her. Suzi loved California, but was not such a big fan of the state’s inhabitants. She came back to Michigan.
Suzi and Keri were ready for something more. The two free spirits set out to see the country. Their first stop was Ypsilanti, Michigan, just six-and-a-half miles southeast of Ann Arbor. It was the first time that either girl had their own apartment; the first time they were responsible for their own well-being; the first time they were on their own.
EVIL EY ES 75
And they loved it.
Keri Murphy recalled their first Thanksgiving meal together that year. Neither girl could cook. They traded ideas about how to fix the turkey, including putting it into a plastic bag and cooking it in the dishwasher. They opted for the turkey in the brown-bag trick. They placed the festive bird in a brown grocery bag and placed it into the oven at 335°. Only problem was, it was already 11:00
A . M . and the girls had no idea how long it took to cook a turkey. After a few hours of waiting, Suzi declared that she was already hungry. To alleviate this problem, she pulled a chicken pot pie out of the freezer, placed it in the oven alongside the turkey, and turned the temperature up to 450°. The increase in temperature ignited the paper bag which, in turn, ignited the turkey. The girls realized they needed to put the fire out, grabbed the near-est container—of salt. They poured the contents of the salt dispenser all over the flaming bird. In the process, they created turkey jerky for their
Two years after Suzi was born, disaster struck. Soon after giving birth to her fourth daughter, Michelle, Romaine Wolf suffered a severe stroke. The debilitating attack left Romaine severely disabled with immobility and slurred speech. In essence, Romaine lost most of her motor skills. Suzi’s oldest sister, Judy, who was ten years older than Suzi, took over the maternal role in the Wolf family. Judy took care of Suzi, Michelle, and their other sister, Barb. In addition, she also became the housekeeper for her father. Her father developed an unusual habit of sleeping all day and sometimes not waking up until six o’clock on certain nights. It was not because of work
either.
Despite the heavy workload, Judy relished the opportunity to help the family. She had a special affinity for Suzi.
74 Corey Mitchell
“She was my baby,” Judy told her cousin and Min-nesota Star-Tribune reporter, Larry Werner. “She’d take one of those little fat hands of hers and she’d put them on my face when I’d cry because I was feeling sorry for myself and she’d say, ‘Don’t cry, Judy, don’t cry.’ She was really just a delightful child.”
Suzi developed a voracious appetite for life and ex-ploration at an early age. She started with vicarious travels through books. Oftentimes she would head over to the public library and grab piles and piles of reading material.
As she got older, she would live out several of the adventures she read about.
“She was kind of a crazy kid,” her sister Judy recalled. “She was sweet. Rarely difficult. She was kind of a people person.”
Two of the people she became closest to were her best friends, Keri Murphy and Lori Bukowski. Lori recalled that Suzi loved to dance and loved the Rolling Stones. Suzi and Keri definitely gathered no moss.
After high-school graduation, Suzi headed out west to California with a friend of hers. Suzi marveled at the Pa-cific Ocean. She told Keri that she loved standing in the sand looking out upon the vast expanse of the ocean on one side, then turning around and seeing the beautiful, lush green mountains behind her. Suzi loved California, but was not such a big fan of the state’s inhabitants. She came back to Michigan.
Suzi and Keri were ready for something more. The two free spirits set out to see the country. Their first stop was Ypsilanti, Michigan, just six-and-a-half miles southeast of Ann Arbor. It was the first time that either girl had their own apartment; the first time they were responsible for their own well-being; the first time they were on their own.
EVIL EY ES 75
And they loved it.
Keri Murphy recalled their first Thanksgiving meal together that year. Neither girl could cook. They traded ideas about how to fix the turkey, including putting it into a plastic bag and cooking it in the dishwasher. They opted for the turkey in the brown-bag trick. They placed the festive bird in a brown grocery bag and placed it into the oven at 335°. Only problem was, it was already 11:00
A . M . and the girls had no idea how long it took to cook a turkey. After a few hours of waiting, Suzi declared that she was already hungry. To alleviate this problem, she pulled a chicken pot pie out of the freezer, placed it in the oven alongside the turkey, and turned the temperature up to 450°. The increase in temperature ignited the paper bag which, in turn, ignited the turkey. The girls realized they needed to put the fire out, grabbed the near-est container—of salt. They poured the contents of the salt dispenser all over the flaming bird. In the process, they created turkey jerky for their
Similar Books
