Susan Trone: “Education is a passion of mine”

This is the third in a series of profiles on the seven members of the Clackamas ESD Board of Directors. Our elected board governs the ESD, setting policy, and hiring and managing the superintendent. Board members represent the geographic diversity of Clackamas County, and bring a range of life experiences to their ESD work. They are a vital part of our team, and we want you to know them better.

Susan Trone is the volunteer every teacher and school sports coach dreams of: the mother and grandmother who will do everything from helping out in the classroom to serving as the secretary of the soccer board. And fortunately for Clackamas ESD, she also is the volunteer whose desire to give back to her community has kept her serving for more than 20 years on our Board of Directors.

Susan grew up in Clackamas County, working her way from Happy Valley Grade School through Clackamas High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Brigham Young University and, after a short stint living in Virginia as a newlywed, returned home to Clackamas County to raise five children and settle in to a self-described quiet and happy life as a stay-at-home mom, helping her husband start a new business along the way.

Her introduction to Clackamas ESD came through her oldest daughter’s first-grade class. The teacher in that class – where Susan routinely volunteered – was Nadene Duffield. The two became good friends, and several years later when an opening on the CESD board occurred, Nadene – by then a veteran of that board – recruited Susan to apply. Susan did just that, and has been re-elected to the position several times.

“I love how our CESD employees continue to grow and innovate. Our team has done a great job of anticipating needs and developing new ways to meet them,” Susan says. “Our leaders are really attuned to the needs of our students, districts and other education partners, and how important it is to adapt to changing circumstances.

“I really think we’re a hidden gem in the education community. Most people don’t know how much we do to improve the quality of their kids’ education.”

Susan’s heart is full these days. Her children are busy with lives ranging from raising families to pursuing PhDs. One of her daughters currently is a surgical resident at Oregon Health & Science University, and Susan loves being able to mother her with a home-cooked meal once in a while. In April 2021, she welcomed her first grandson and sixth grandchild into her growing family.

But Susan also has dealt with her share of heartache. Her mother died after an accident at age 39, soon after Susan returned from a year in Germany as a high school foreign exchange student. And 13 years ago, her husband Gene also died in an accident. Susan still had a couple of children at home at the time, and suddenly she was forced to forge a new path in life.

“What I knew was education – it’s where I’d volunteered and put my heart, so I thought about going back and getting my master’s degree in teaching,” Susan recalls. Instead, she veered in a different “teaching” direction, launching a volunteer program at the Gladstone Center for Children and Families. And for the past seven years, she has served as the state testing coordinator at Oregon City High School.

“It’s a really rewarding job, because I’m able to help individual seniors make sure they earn all of the necessary credits and complete all of the other requirements needed to graduate,” Susan says.

She continues to talk up the value of education and Clackamas ESD every chance she gets.

“Education is a passion of mine. I love the idea of continuous learning,” Susan says. “If you can light a fire in children to get them excited about learning, that will take care of a lot of things to make their lives better.”