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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Susan Quant Bianchi 
April 23, 1992 
Cassette 1, Side 2 
 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  00:01 
Okay, aside from sports in the sixth grade, I also had the worst teacher of my life. I'll never 
forget his name. His name was Mr. Crooks, and I don't think he liked little girls, and I don't know 
what his problem was. I do remember my mom going up and trying to talk to him because I had 
started my period, and sometimes it would start in class, and I was embarrassed about it, and so 
he would make you raise your hand, and ask to leave. And my mom simply wanted me to be able 
to, if that happened, to be able to walk out of the class. Right? No, he wouldn't allow it. So this 
was about the worst time of my life from the sixth-- and also in the sixth grade, I was in a grade 
school situation, so it was kindergarten to sixth grade. From there, you know, it gradually got 
better, because then, next year, I was in the seventh grade at Fairhaven Junior High, and I was 
young, the youngest, and there were now girls and boys taller and bigger than I was, and I didn't 
feel like quite such a big ox in junior high. I was still groping for peer acceptance, finding-- I 
didn't have a group of friends that-- I didn't have a group of friends. I had friends in grade school 
that somehow, when we went, you know, as we got into junior high, went other directions or 
something, and I just didn't, I hadn't found my niche. And finally, in the eighth grade, my niche 
came about, and it was in music, and in a wonderful-- the most wonderful teacher I ever had. Her 
name was Jean [?Schuman?]. Jeannie, we called her Jeannie, was a wonderful woman. She had 
the ability to make everyone feel good about themselves, and it was my first experience with a 
teacher who made me feel good about myself. It didn't matter that I was chunky. And I also 
found my niche in singing. And I think she brought that-- she brought that about. She made me 
want to be a singer. She made me want to be good at something. That was the first time I found 
something that I wanted to be good at. And so I started piano lessons, and I started vocal lessons, 
private vocal lessons, which I took two years of. And I was a good singer, and I-- and it gave me 
a high, and some people looked up to me for that. And so I felt proud of myself. And along with 
that came loss of weight. I mean, I was, you know, I was becoming a teenager and becoming 
more aware of my body, and realizing that I want to lose weight. And, you know, so I lost quite a 
bit of weight in the seventh grade, and got a little bit better figure. I fought my weight all my life, 
but I kind of-- music, pulled it together, and she helped me pull it together. Along with that, I 
was selected by her to join-- to be in this ensemble group. And there were 12 of us, and it was-- 
they became close friends that became my peer group. And we sang, I think, 55 engagements 
one year. We sang at other junior high schools. We sang at every rotary group. We sang 
everywhere in Bellingham, and my mother went. My mother drove the car. We had parties at my 
house. Jeannie had parties at her house. Was, you know, first time of knowing that the teacher 
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didn't have to be Mr. So-and-so, we called her Jeannie, and she was a friend, and of being able to 
party and laugh with her, you know? And she taught us all, I think she taught us all about being 
young women, and about learning about our desires, and what we wanted out of our lives. And 
she's the most-- was most beautiful teacher I ever had. And she made a difference. When they 
talk about-- no, Mrs. Bush is doing the Teachers That Make a Difference on TV? I think it's 
called, is that?  
 
Linda C. Meuter  03:48 
Yeah, yeah.  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  03:50 
I think she was one that should have been one of the teachers that made a difference, because she 
made a difference in all of our lives.  
 
Linda C. Meuter  03:56 
So she made a difference in your adolescence?  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  03:59 
Yes, she did. Because adolescence is the hardest, is the hardest time of life for any-- almost 
everyone, has their hardest time during adolescence. I've raised two teenagers. I have a son now 
that's 20, and one that's 19, and I've been through those years with them, and both of them had a 
most difficult time during adolescence. And, you know, I thought boys didn't go through that, but 
they do, and sometimes it's even, you know, harder for them. But they went through the same 
kinds of things I went through, only different. And so if I-- yes, if you have a mentor that helps 
you through that time, they can make all the difference in the world. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  04:43 
Aside from Jeannie, did you have any other mentors in your life? Or was it Jeannie that you-- 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  04:50 
--yes. Yeah. Jeannie was.  
 
Linda C. Meuter  04:52 
What's one of your mentors?  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  04:54 
Yes, a pastor that was special in my life, and his name was Pastor [?Timberg?]. And he died 
when I was in the ninth grade. It was the first really hard death that I went through. The first time 
I ever really felt like I'd lost someone that was so very special and so important to me. He-- I 
went through confirmation. You know, when you start in the sixth grade, I think it was two years 
long. Eight of us went through confirmation, and he was our, you know, our pastor every 
Saturday for that. He was different as a pastor, than any pastor. We changed churches after he 
died. No one could take his place. And I've learned-- I mean, I guess we should have just stayed, 
because no one ever could have taken his place. I'm going. Also [?Pastor Timberg?] related 
wonderfully with the young people of the church. And we had a huge Luther League. This was 
the teenage group of the church, and that was every Sunday. My parents were the, I think they 
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were called counselors or advisors of the entire group. And this was a, this was a highlight of my 
life for two years. A lot of the parties were held at my folks' house, and this is where my dad was 
absolutely in his glory. There-- he loved the little boys, and the little boys got-- my dad always 
had a great sense of humor, and the boys would tease my dad, and my dad would tease the boys, 
you know, and there's nothing like teasing of a 12 or 13 year old boy. They really know how to 
give it to him, but my dad didn't matter what they had to say. My dad had a-- my dad was quick, 
and sharp, and had a line, you know, that absolutely zip right back on them. And they'd try to get 
Dad, and Dad'd to try to get them. And we had overnight parties in my house, down in the 
basement, and dunking for apples, Halloween parties. I can remember many parties down there. 
And Pastor [?Timberg?] would come by. And you know, it was just-- we were all like-- there 
were probably 20 in the Luther League and my folks, and there were 22 of us, and it was about 
half boys and half girls. And for two years, you know, we were a real close group of friends. And 
this is what-- where I got my base of religion from, was from Luther League and from Pastor 
[?Timberg?]. And I've never since found someone had the same kind of a value system, or, I 
don't know, I hate the word value system, but felt the same about church that I do. We talked 
about all the glory and all the good of church, and, you know, all the wonderful. It was like 
everyone was going to heaven. And now all I hear is that just those that are, you know, saved are 
going to heaven. It seems like such a select group is going now. But when I was a teenager, I 
thought we were all going, we were all going to heaven, because we all, you know, if we were 
good people and we cared, and, you know, I don't even think you necessarily have to go to 
church, but if you're a good person and if you love, and you do kind things in your life, and 
you're generally kind to people. And that's how Pastor [?Timberg?] talked, you know, it was 
about doing good deeds and being a good person. And that's where I learned that from, and that's 
what stays with me until today, and has also, you know, totally as an adult, formed what I think 
of God and Jesus, and what kind of-- why I'd want to go to heaven, because they're loving. 
Because they're loving. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  04:56 
Was Stan part of your life then or...? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  08:35 
Un the ninth grade. I, out in the ninth grade, I started dating. That was really my first kind of 
experience of dating and I had a couple of dates, and then when it was February-- how about 
this? I can tell you the date even. It was February 27, 1960, and the phone rang, and I hadn't 
heard from Stan since, I think I was in the seventh grade. He had moved away. And I don't 
remember where they moved, but they had moved away, and anyway, February 27. This we've, 
we've celebrated this as another kind of an anniversary. But 1960 Western was playing Central, 
basketball game, of course, and the phone rang, and it was Stan asking me out on a date. And I 
was just as excited, because this was a high school senior. I mean, it was really, you know, 
exciting. So out, he comes, and we went off on our, really, our first date, and that was-- that's the 
time from which we consider that, you know, we dated. From the time I was in the ninth grade 
until we got married, and that's, you know, but... We dated all the way from the ninth grade, all 
the way through my high school years, through one year of college until I got married. And that, 
you know, when we were talking about mentors as an adult, even though he's my husband, I 
consider him a mentor in my life. He's someone to look up to and someone whose opinions I 
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value, and someone that's made a good person out of me. Not made a good person out-- made me 
the best I can be in many ways, that's how I-- [tape cuts off]. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  10:15 
Was Stan the only person that you dated in high school, or were there other people that you 
dated? Other relationships that you want to talk about? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  10:22 
Oh, I mostly dated Stan, not exclusively. I had-- and I'm glad I didn't. I had the experience of 
dating a couple of other-- I dated one that I really enjoyed. His name was Ken Apton. He was in 
my church group, and he was a really nice young man. And I dated him a little. That was also 
helpful for when I, you know, if you were-- if I was going to a high school party, then Ken 
Apton, I went to some of those. He was a high school boy of my own age. And whereas, it 
wouldn't, it wouldn't have worked. Stan was, you know, in college, it wouldn't have worked to 
have brought a college boy down to a high school party. My friends wouldn't have liked it, you 
know, they'd have thought I was-- I-- they just-- it wouldn't have worked. So I dated Ken Apton. 
And one of my most notorious boyfriends-- I call him a boyfriend, I can't say we ever even really 
had a date, but his name was Tracy Pratt, and I was absolutely in love with him. He was my 
puppy love, you know. And my family started ice skating with the church group, and we went up 
to New Westminster many, many, many Saturdays. And we ice skated, and I spotted the best 
looking guy on the floor, and he was so exciting. And I was sitting there trying to look just cool, 
right? And he spotted me, you know, and he came ice skating, you know, he was also on the 
hockey team, so he knew how to stand up on those things. And he came skating over to me, and 
he spent the whole afternoon sitting and talking with me. He wrote me a letter. And then the 
thing was, is that, you know, I would go up ice skating and we would meet. I even tried ice 
skating with him, the poor fellow. I mean, I was just hanging on, and my skates were, you know, 
like this, as I was just trying to struggle to get around. But I just-- you know, I was probably hot 
about him. He was just, he was so exciting, and he went on to play professional hockey. And 
Stan could tell you what team, we watched him play professional hockey. I think he played for 
the Boston hockey team, or, the Boston, whatever the hockey team. And then I think he also 
played for the LA, whatever that hockey team was. And I'm sure that at this point, I mean, I'm 
very thankful. I know Stan knows this, but I am most thankful that I did not marry the man, that 
he was just a brief experience in my life. I feel quite certain that he's been married five times, and 
that his wife now is 19 years old, that he has no front teeth, of course, you know, and that he's an 
alcoholic. I mean, I'm thrilled that I did not marry the man. I marry-- instead, I married-- you 
know, when you're in high school, you are attracted to this good looking kind of guy, right? But 
when it came time to get married, I married-- No, I mean, I thought Stan was nice looking, but 
you know. Where I loved him was the person he was, the person he was inside. And the fact that 
I was able to make that decision at 19 and know. I mean, I knew I was marrying the right person, 
and I thank God every day that I married the right person. Ken Apt is the other boy I mentioned. 
And I'm shocked that he did this, because he was just Mr. Nice. He was-- had about a 3.8 in high 
school. He went to MIT. He graduated from there, he, you know, he was-- he just did all of this. 
And he married a really nice girl from our class, but he divorced her and left her for his 
secretary, who was 21 years old. And so, on both counts, thank-- praise God, right, that I didn't 
marry either one of them. That, I don't know if it's just God, you know, guides you in the right 
directions, but he sure did in this case, because I got the right guy.  
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Linda C. Meuter  14:18 
That's good.  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  14:19 
Yeah, it was good. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  14:24 
Stan went off to college and you hadn't thought of marrying him, or had-- you hadn't thought of 
marrying him in high school? And I'm thinking during that period of time of dating prior to high 
school, or how did you finish off those high school years? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  14:41 
Prior to high school? 
 
Linda C. Meuter  14:42 
Or prior to college.  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  14:43 
Prior to college, okay. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  14:45 
You mentioned earlier about singing and some of your interests, I'm just curious as to how those 
interests played out in high school and aside from dating, the other social activities that you were 
a part of. 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  14:58 
Well, one thing I'm going to change-- I'm going to change on one thing, and that is that I 
probably did think of marrying Stan in high school. You know, I'm thinking that when you're a 
teenage girl, I think you think like, you know how you play house when you're a little girl? 
 
Linda C. Meuter  14:58 
Right. 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  15:00 
I think you play house with every boy you ever date, really. And I think that I can thought about 
dating. You know, what would it be like to be married to Ken, or Tracy, or Stan, or Jason? 
There's another boy I dated. I thought about, what would it be like to be married to all of them? 
And of course, you know, when you're dreaming about it, it's the white and shining armor, and 
he swoops down, you know, on his white charger, and gets you, and you go into this wonderful 
house and play, you know, and have a good time, and that's marriage. So I think you do think 
about it from that really adolescent standpoint, but I didn't ever come close to making any kind 
of decision. I was too busy having fun in high school. High school was a fun time for me. Grades 
were important to me, and I got about a 3.5 with, you know, what, I graduate, or I don't know, 
maybe I'm exaggerating without meaning to. Maybe I don't remember, I think it was closer to a 
three two or something that I graduated-- my studies were important to me, you know, just that I 
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pass everything, and that I get fairly good grades. But I was involved in every club at high 
school. You know, I was involved in everything the high school had, and I loved it, and I just 
had a ball all the way through high school. One of the things that I probably was the most 
involved in right before high school, and kind of finished out maybe my sophomore year or so of 
high school, was Job's Daughters. I was in Job's Daughters from the time I was in seventh grade 
maybe through my sophomore year of high school. And the big-- I was their soloist. And I, you 
know, I did a lot of singing with them, and that helped, helped my self esteem also. But the big 
thing that I was involved in was their drill team. And they had a fabulous drill team. We won. 
There were 16, we-- it was a very professional, very tight movement drill team. And we had Don 
[?McKinnon?] was our drill instructor, and he had done it for years, and he was very good at it. 
And we won every competition we were ever in except the last one, I think it was regionals. We 
took first place everywhere we went. It was just-- it's probably the greatest thing I was ever 
involved in. And I was on the drill team for at least three years. We won the state competition, 
and then got to go to the nationals, which were held in Phoenix, Arizona. And I can remember 
they were in August. And I remember that entire summer going out and trying to raise money, 
Job's Daughters for, you know, going to Phoenix Arizona for national competition, and raising 
all this money, you know. So the 16 of us all got to go. One of my best friends, Sharon Owen, 
was on the team with me, and we had a ball. We just had an absolute ball. We raised all of the 
money and-- more money than we needed. And so we got to go to Disneyland. We got to go to 
Knott's Berry Farm. I think it was a two week trip. And when we got there, we got third place in 
the nation, which was, you know, just incredible. And we all came back burnt and fried and... 
But those are the things that childhood memories, or young adult memories are really made out 
of. And it's strong commitments to other people too, you know, whether it be the group of 
singers, or the group of the drill team, it wasn't just me doing something for me. We all felt like, 
you know, if we made one wrong move, we threw the team off. It was all a team effort. And 
even though I didn't like into-- like sports, like baseball, and they scared me, I did well in group 
things that was kind of for the glory of all, but everyone wanted everyone to be good. And so, 
Job's Daughters was really important to me. And I was in usher's club, which, which was a good 
and bad thing about our high school, it was an elected group, and a lot of people didn't get in, and 
most people didn't get in. I think there were 30, 60 between pep club and usher's club, maybe, 
maybe at most 100 girls could be elected in, and I had 500 in my class alone. So there were 1500 
in the school. So you could say there were 750 girls. 100 of them got into these groups, even, 
you know, even down to pep club. Pep club, you weren't just a member of pep club. In order to 
be in pep club, you were elected in. I wouldn't do it that way again, but I was in. I remember 
thinking, you know, it would be awful if you weren't in. It would-- because that's how everyone 
felt. It was such a, you know, competitive thing, and we had two years of elections. And I didn't 
get in the first year. I could have been in my junior and senior year, and I didn't get elected in my 
junior year. And it felt bad. And, you know, I felt sad about that. A lot of my friends were in and 
it was kind of a prestige-- it was a very prestigious thing. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  20:14 
Is that the pep club? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  20:15 
Pep club, and ushers, both. Ushers ushered for all of the-- anything that happened in the 
auditorium. You know, we were the ones that had the flashlights and, you know, but the reason it 
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was a big deal was you were elected in and truly, nowadays, I don't believe in that. And I can 
remember, I did not tell my mother and my-- I don't-- I might have talked to Chris about it, I'm 
not sure. But I can remember when we did the elections before my senior year, I was afraid I 
wouldn't get in. And I did not tell my mother that the elections were going to happen, and I knew 
that the letter of acceptance would be in the mail Saturday morning. They knew nothing about it. 
Again, I think it was always trying to protect-- always wanted to protect my mother, because she 
thought I was wonderful, and I knew not everyone thought I was and I didn't want to have to 
explain it or somehow. But, and I can remember being nervous and walking down to the mailbox 
and getting that-- there was the letter, and I'm shaking, and I'm opening it, and I'm in. Whew. 
And I just felt like, Oh, thank God, you know. And the phone started ringing that afternoon. You 
know, did you get in? Did you get in? Did you get in? Well, some of my friends did, and some of 
my friends didn't, and it was very, very hard on those that didn't get in. Another experience I had 
along that same line was the first and only time I ever ran for queen of anything was I ran for 
Water Show Queen when I was a sophomore in high school, and it had to be by ballot. So class, 
members of my class, took out a ballot, and when you had so many signatures, you were one of 
the ones that was going to run, and I had signatures. So it came down-- I think there were four of 
us running as sophomores, and four as juniors, and four as seniors were running for Water Show, 
two princesses and a queen.  
 
Linda C. Meuter  22:01 
What is Water Show?  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  22:02 
It was the big, kind of a carnival, big show in the auditorium where acts like singing acts, 
dancing acts, all kinds of acts, comedy routines, would try to get in. There was a panel that's, you 
know, that judge them, and maybe 50 would try out, and 20 would make it. And it was a great 
show. It was just a great show. People from all over would come to see it. It was, it was a great 
show. And you were queen of this whole show, and-- or princess. And, you know, I was excited 
about it, but always-- and I was always this way throughout my life when these kind of situations 
presented themselves until I became an adult and figured it all out. But, I was nervous about it, 
because somebody was going to tell me I wasn't all right again, because maybe I wasn't going to 
win. So I didn't tell my family that I was, you know, nominated to run. I didn't tell my mother. 
My mother never knew I ever did it. And I had four outfits. I had my-- we didn't have a lot of 
clothes. I had my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday outfit, and then you wore Monday 
again on Friday. That's the way it was. And this was a Thursday and it was one of my least 
favorite outfits. I mean, it was just like, I had to wear that outfit. I couldn't tell my mom and 
maybe go get something new, you know, and so I didn't-- I didn't even wash my hair that day, 
because it wasn't the day. We used to wash our hair Sunday nights. That was the night you 
washed your hair. This wasn't Sunday night. And I never told my family, and I went and I just, I 
was so embarrassed. I just-- everyone else there had brand new outfits on, and were just slicked 
up. And I just kind of, you know, I didn't feel good about it. I didn't feel good about myself. And 
I guess it's, again, it's another time somebody's going to place a value judgment on you, and it's a 
fearful thing. And I didn't win it, and it was-- and I knew I never wanted to have to go through 
that again like that. It wasn't-- maybe it was a good experience in some ways, but I can't think of 
what they were. But other than you know, the interesting part of that is that I spent 20 years of 
my life working on the Miss Whatcom County Pageant. I loved being director and I loved 
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teaching girls how to be the best they could be. But I always felt like after-- I always really felt 
like, after I was done, that they were, at least they got the best I could give them, and that they 
wouldn't have to be embarrassed and go through what I'd gone through. And I learned that I'm 
better on the other side. I'm much better as the director or the person who helps someone else 
become and not-- I never had any desire to be on the stage again. I mean, I never had that desire. 
And even as director prior to me, every director got up, and walked across the stage, and was 
introduced and, you know, receive flowers and da-dee-da-dee-da. This big glamorous [?thing?] 
for the director, and she wore her long gown. When I became director, I said, No, we're not 
going to do that. I feel that that's an evening for the, for the contestants. I felt that was their night, 
their night, not my night. I sat-- 
 
Linda C. Meuter  22:22 
--this is for Whatcom county, right? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  22:50 
Yeah, for Miss Whatcom County. It was their night. Wasn't my night to put on a long gown and 
get my roses and, you know, walk across the stage. I sat in the front row of the audience and 
applauded, and I-- they always knew I was there. And I said, If you want to smile, you know, just 
look out front row center, and you'll see it, because I'm going to be smiling. And you can pick up 
that smile from me. But I liked being on that side of it, and I learned that from being in the Miss-
- the Water Show princess thing, and losing and not feeling like I'd done very well. But on the 
other hand, everything else I did in high school was-- you know, I joined French club, social 
club, makeup club. I was in the music program. I was in the, you know, in the special choirs, and 
in operettas. In all the operettas they did, I had some part or other, and it was gloriously fun. I 
mean, you know, just having a part and learning your part. I was a Black woman in one of the 
show and in Finnegan's Rainbow and it was fun to, you know, really take on a whole new 
character. I was totally involved in high school and all the social stuff. And...  
 
Linda C. Meuter  26:18 
Would you say, when you ended your high school years, you'd gone through that bumpity 
adolescent period, and you came out feeling fairly self-assured? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  26:26 
I did. I did. As self-assured as an 18 year old feels, you know? You don't-- you still-- now at 46, I 
know more about being self-assured and about what's important. You don't know all that at 18, 
but for 18, yes, you're exactly right. 
 
Linda C. Meuter  26:46 
So where'd that confidence take you? 
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  26:50 
To another bumpy road, actually, which is a surprise, right? Of marriage and of learning how to 
be married. It was a bumpy road for two years until I-- until we, I figured out when not to push 
what buttons, and he figured out when not to push what buttons for me, but my whole life 
changed when I got married. I probably would like to talk about this more later, but I went from 
this high school student that I just described to college, one year, to working at a drive-in so Stan 
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could get through college, and my-- and having miscarriages, so my whole life changed. It went 
upside down, and I don't know what I'd do different, Linda, because I don't know that I change it. 
You know, I wish the road hadn't been so bumpy in the first two years of our marriage, but we 
learned a lot from those bumps too. So... 
 
Linda C. Meuter  27:52 
This ends part one of the interview with Susan Quant Bianchi on April 23, 1992.  
 
Susan Quant Bianchi  28:03 
Wonderful. 