The Kempens with Susie’s parents Norm and Rosie Lubbe, and their dear friend Sister Bernice Juip at Sister Bernice’s jubilee celebration in 2017.
Susan and Andy Kempen grew up in families that valued giving time, talent and treasure to the local parish. Andy and the Kempen family volunteered in a parish in Neenah, Wisc. Susan and the Lubbe family found themselves at St. Dominic parish in Quincy, Ill., where Susie first encountered the Dominican Sisters. Susie remembers fondly her first-grade teacher, Sister Sara Koch and principals Sister Mary Timothy and later Sister Margaret Grueter (Antoninus). “They left a lasting, caring impression on me,” she said.
Even so, Susie, credits her parents, Rosie and Norm Lubbe, for her lifelong connection with the Dominican Sisters and their spirit of giving. Rosie was the school secretary at St. Dominic’s for more than 25 years and volunteered for several of those years, before Sister Bernice Juip advocated for making it a paid position. Norm helped with practically every parish project. Where the two of them volunteered, the Lubbe kids were persuaded to help, too.
Rosie and Norm frequently invited the sisters to the house for dinner and offered their home for a place to stay when the convent ran out of room for visiting sisters. That provided Susie and her brothers a different perspective of their sister-teachers. In many ways the sisters were part of the Lubbe family. While Andy’s experience with the sisters who taught him didn’t extend out of the classroom, when Andy married Susie he definitely shared the family’s experience with the Dominicans.
Giving time, talent and treasure is still integral to Susie and Andy’s life together. As regular donors to the Springfield Dominicans, they are motivated by gratitude for the sisters’ relationship with the Lubbe family. Susie notes, “I’m grateful for the education I received from the sisters, and the support the sisters have given my family—They have done right by me!”
The Kempens also value the social justice efforts of the Dominicans. For Andy, who spent his youth on the family farm, his particular interest is our concern for care of creation. “When you’ve worked with the land and animals, you understand our interconnectedness with creation and our responsibility for caring for it” he said. Susie added that the sisters’ promotion of human dignity is a priority for her. She realizes, too, that “the Sisters are getting older and need our support.”
Thank you to all of our Partners in Mission who support our sisters and the values we promote. You, like the Kempens, give of yourselves to support efforts which make a positive difference in the world.
