Her first piece for the magazine was the lead story in our inaugural issue, June/July 1988: “Clean Air, Clean Fuel and Homegrown Plastic.” Su Clauson (husband Bruce Wicker would come along a few years later) set the tone for profiles ever since with her careful, perfectly detailed and appreciative portrait of a rural man who “helps preserve the rural lifestyle by creating jobs for rural people.” For the 30th anniversary issue, Su revisited the delightful Staengl family.
Su remained with us—as a contributing editor and dear friend of the magazine—for the rest of her writing life, before the cruelties of ALS began sapping her strength until her death in April. She contributed dozens upon dozens of features, many set in what became her beloved beat for Blue Ridge Country, West Virginia.
Her last piece was in Jan/Feb ‘23, and was Su at her Blue Ridge Country best: A quirky, twisty West Virginia-based tale of “The Bridge the Soviets Nearly Built” about the 1970s funding battle for a bridge across the Tug River from Vulcan, West Virginia, to Kentucky. The self-appointed mayor of Vulcan threatened to address the repeated lack of funding for the much-needed bridge by writing the Soviet Embassy asking for money. West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller soon came through with the funding.
Su’s last sentence: “Vulcan residents celebrated with illegally imported Russian vodka and the American flag hung high.”
If she had a secondary beat it was the fascinating filling-and-emptying cycle of Virginia’s Mountain Lake.
Su Clauson-Wicker, who lived in Blacksburg, Virginia, was many things beyond a valued contributor for us. She was for 10 years the editor of the Virginia Tech Magazine. She was the author of “West Virginia Off the Beaten Path,” and one of my favorite guidebooks, “Inn to Inn Walking Guide: Virginia and West Virginia.” That book was an award-winner, as were several of her pieces for Blue Ridge Country.
She was a selfless volunteer in and around Blacksburg in many realms, perhaps most visibly at the Lyric Theater, where one day long ago she handed a box of popcorn to Gail and me as we walked in to watch Greg Brown perform.
Su lived a careful, conscientious life, and Blue Ridge Country was honored to be a part of it with every piece we ran under her byline.
The story above first appeared in our July / August 2024 issue.
